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THIRTY 



Discussions, Bible Stories, 



ESSAYS AND LECTURES. 






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BY dY M? BENNETT 

Editor of The Truth Seeeker. 



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^NEW YORK: 

D. M. BENNETT, 

LIBERAL AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
835 BROADWAY. 

1876. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 

D. M. BENNETT. 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

[All rights reservedj 



PREFACE. 

In presenting the following pages, it is hardly nec- 
essary to inform the reader that no claim is made on 
our part to literary merit or culture. Our early op- 
portunities in lif e^as well as later — ^would rather pre- 
clude this state of things. A common district school 
in the country, which we left at an early age, was our 
source of education, and a subsequent busy life de- 
voted to active labor and toil has not been favorable 
for extensive reading and mental improvement. 

The following articles were nearly all hurriedly 
written for the columns of The Truth Seeker mid 
the varied duties and anxieties inseparable from the 
publishing business, and often with deficient care and 
attention. Could they have been revised, and re- 
written, many improvements in style and language 
could have been made and some errors corrected ; but 
this was deemed not advisable. 

Repetitions in ideas and language will doubtless be 
be observed, which we trust will be attributed to 
the proper cause, and be kindly overlooked. 

As they are, the following pages are presented to 
the reader, trusting he will understand the circum- 
stances, and kindly make all necessary allowances. 

Fraternally, 

D. M. B. 
New York, Jan. 1st, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 

1. Discussion on Prayer with two Clergymen. 

2. The Story of Creation. 

3. The Old Snake Story. 

4. The Story of the Flood. 

5. The Plagues of Egypt. 

6. KoRAH, Datham and Abiram. 

7. Balaam and his Ass. 

8. Arraignment of Priestcraft. 

9. Joshua Stopping the Sun and Moon. 

10. Sampson and His Exploits. 

11. The Great .Wrestling Match. 

12. Discussion with Elder Shelton. 

13. Reply to ^lder Shelton's Fourth Letter. 

14. Discussion with George Snode. 

15. Honest Questions and Honest Answers 

16. The Gods op Superstition and the God op 

the Uniyerse. 

17. Moving the Ark. 

18. Bennett's Prayer to the Devil. 

19. Our Ecclesiastical Gentry. 

20. Elijah the Tishbite. 

21. Christianity a Borrowed System. 

22. Elisha the Prophet. 

23. Did Jesus Really Exist ? 

24. Jonah and the Big Fish. 

25. An Open Letter to Jesus Christ. 

26. The Ills we Endure, their Cause and 

Cure. 

27. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

28. Daniel in the Lions' Den. 

29. An Hour with the Devil. 

30. Discussion with Erastus F. Brown. 

31. The Fear of Death. 



[Tbuth Seeker Tracts. No. 1.] 



Discussion on Prayer, etc., 

BETWEEN 

Rev. R. D. VAN DEURSON, Rev. WM. HOLT 

AND 

D. M. BENNETT. 



The principal importance attached to this discus^ 
sion, is probably the fact, that it was the cause of the 
inauguration of The Truth Seeker. The discussion 
took place at Paris 111., in June and July 1873. It 
was conducted in the two weekly papers of the place. 
It was commenced in the Gazette^ which was fair ta 
both sides, while the Beacon was very partial to the 
Christian side, freely publishing the remarks of the 
Reverend gentleman, but refusing to give space to the 
rejoinders from the opposite side. This was of course 
unfair, and excited in the breast of one of the dispu- 
tants, a determination to start a little paper of his own, 
in which he could say what he pleased, and print 
what he pleased. Hence The Truth Seeker. 

The discussion was begun in consequence of a ser- 
mon preached in the Methodist Church of Paris by 



2 DISCUSSION ON PRATER. 

Rev. J. E. Eades, in which, in true Christian style, he 
lauded the efficacy of Prayer in effectinaj the various 
conditions of life; the curing of diseases among the 
rest. This sermon brought out the following, by a 
young friend. Dr. P. S. Replogle,' over the signature 
of *' A Liberal Thinker." 



To The Clergy. 

Reverend Sirs: We infer, from your numerous 
Biblical quotatations and statements made at the 
Methodist church last Sunday evening, that your con- 
clusions are: G/)d hears and answers prayer; dmd. if he 
does not, then the Bible is false, your preaching is 
vain, and your temples of worship are worse than 
useless. 

Now, we would suggest that you prove the effica- 
cy of prayer by accepting the challenge of that phi- 
losopher. Prof. Tyndall, who, with many others, de- 
sires to test the efficacy of prayer, by having a hos- 
pital, or single ward of a hospital, which shall re- 
ceive the special prayers of the Christian public for 
not less than three 3^ears, and if it shall be found at 
the end of that lime that the rates of mortality are 
less, and the average number of recoveries are great- 
er than in hospitals or wards for which no special 
intercession lias been made, the efficacy oi prayer 
will be at least presumtively established. 

Prof. Tyndall isapractical common-sense man who 
grasps intricate problems with grace and ease, and 
whose suggestions are worthy of consideration. He 
desires to test the efficacy of prayer by a practical de- 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYEU. 3 

monstration in some hospital where those who are 
swflering from all the maladies flesh is heir to — from 
tiie colic to a set i led case of cod sumption. 

Two hospitals of the same character of disease are 
standing side by side. Let one throw ** physic to ihe 
dogs," dispense with porous plasters, anodynes, cor- 
dials, blisters, bleeding, expectorants, etc., and rely on 
the efficacy of prayer. Let the other adopt the most 
skillful means of treatment of modern times, and by 
this means forever settle one of the most vexed ques- 
tions that ever puzzled the minds of men. 

God does, or does not, answer prayer. If he con- 
descends to mitigate the sulferings of humanity, the 
hospitals where the poor are congregated, suffering 
from the excruciating pangs of disease, would be a 
suitable place for him to manifest his power. 

By reading the Bible we find *' Abraham prayed un- 
to God, and God healed Abimelech." (Gen. xx. 17.) 
*'When Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was 
quenched." (Numbers xi. 2.) *' Peter cured the blind 
by prayer." (Acts 9th chapter,) and Proverbs 
(XV. 29) affirms that the '*Lord heareth the prayer of 
the righteous." Also in St. Mark (xi. 24) we read, 
** Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and 
ye shall have them. ^ 

Now, then, if you have the blessed assurance that 
your prayers will be heard, why not accept the chal- 
lenge, and, if you win, then away with Dr. Walker's 
Vinegar Bitters, Helmbold's Buchu, John Bull's Sar- 
saprilla. Old Mother Winslow's Soothing Syrup, and 
last, but not least. Dr. Green's All-sticking Balsam! 
Away with M.D.'s and their institutes of learning. 
Give room to the ''man of prayer," for it is he who 



4 DISCUSSIOlt ON PRAYER. 

hath the balm qf Gilead and can heal our wounds. 
But if you do not succeed in relieving the suJfferingby 
prayer, then what ? Vice versa. But hold, Reverend 
Sirs; before you proceed would it not be well to let 
the voice of reason whisper to you a moment, asking 
you to crack the following theological nut: 

Does not the Being that made the world, govern 
it by laws that are inflexible^ because they are the 
best ? 

Jf this being did change his established laws to please 
an individual, a community, the inhabitants of this 
world, or the countless millions of worlds, would he 
not be a changeable Being ? And if he governs the 
world by special and local exercise of his almighti- 
ness, and has the power to effect all things, other than 
through the course of natural law, why does he not 
displace sin with good, slavery with justicxJ, poverty 
with plenty? Why does the Deity permit famine, 
disease and woe ? 

But, on the other hand, if God does not govern the 
world by special and local exercise of his almightiness, 
but by laws which are eternal and unchangeable, 
what good will your prayers do? 

Would it not be far better if j'-ou would learn what 
God's fixed laws are by studying physiology, philoso- 
phy, science, etc., and then teach your intelligent 
audiences what those laws are, admonishing them to 
obey those laws if they would be happy, either here 

or **over the shining river?'' 

A Liberal Thinker. 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 5 

Eeply of Rev. R. D. Tan Deursen. 

{Pastor of the Pr^esbyterian Church.) 

Dear Sir; Your inference from our *' Biblical 
quotations and statements" is a correct one — God 
does hear and answer prayer, and if not, then the Bible 
is false. And we infer from your Biblical quotations 
and statements that you believe that " the Being that 
made the world governs it by laws that are inflexible 
because they are the best ;" " by laws that are eternal 
and unchangeable," and, therefore, you ask, '* what 
goodwill your prayers do?" From this stand-point 
you suggest that we prove the efficacy of prayer by ac- 
cepting the challenge of Prof. Tyndall, who desires, 
as you say, to test it by the separation of a hospital 
into wards which shall or shall not receive the special 
prayers of the Christian public, and thus presumptive- 
ly establish the fact. 

In reply to the suggestion, I will state that the chal- 
lenge has been accepted, and the Christian world are 
prepared to furnish the facts. You supply the proof 
of the efficacy of prayer in your own article. You 
quote the solemn assertion of Moses that ** Abraham 
prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech.*' Is 
Moses a trustworthy witness or not ? Luke, a physi- 
cian of some note in his day, says in writing the 
Acts of the Apostles that ** Peter cured the blind by 
prayer." His testimony is surely as good and as 
worthy of credence as would be the sworn statement 
of ** A Liberal Thinker" of our day to facts which he 
should witness in the Edgar County Almshouse if he 
should sign it and publish it in the Gazette, Moses 
and Luke tell us of facts, and we believe them. God 
answers the challenge before it was made. But you 



6 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

suggest in spite of this that we prove it to you. If you 
will not believe Moses, nor Abraham, nor Isaac, nor 
Ezekiel, nor Isaiah, nor Luke, nor John, nor Paul, 
when they not only declare that God answers prayer, 
but give us facts in proof of it, we may infer that you 
would not be satisfied if your hospital suggestion would 
be carried out now in our county. Well, bring on your 
hospital; the first thing to be done is to get men to con- 
sent to lie down m that prayerless ward. When you 
have done that^ then secure the pledge of the entire 
race that no petition shall go up to God for them (for 
the test will not be an honest one if, while we cease 
praying here in Edgar County, there are millions of 
Christians praying for all the sick,) and then at the 
end of three years gather in your certificates from all 
the wo'*ld stating that no prayer has been ofiered dur- 
ing all that time by any individual for any in the 
prayerless ward, f.nd then compare the facts, and if 
they are against us then we will agree to take down 
our churches and give up our praying. And if you 
say the thing is oa impossibility, we ask why do you 
suggest that wo do things which you know are im- 
possibilities ? 

But you say \i God heals the sick in answer to 
prayer then *'tUrow physic to the dogs." Are you 
not willing that God shall answer prayer for the sick 
by intermediate use of means ? No Christian man 
ever presumed to dictate to God how he should ac- 
complish his purposes and answer his prayer, and 
therefore your logic is at fault if you argue that be- 
cause God hears prayer we must **away with ourM. 
D.'s pad their institutes of learning." We do not 
neglect our plowing and cultivation of our wheat 
fields because we have been taught to pray for our 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYEE. 7 

daily bread, but use the meaus and pray for God's 
blessiug upon them. 

Mr. Talmage says truly: **IfGod made us (and 1 
think he did), and if the Bible is true (and I am rather 
disposed to think it is), then it is not strange that 
prayer does traverse natural cause, aye, that it intro- 
duces a new cause. When God made the law he did 
not make it so strong that he could not break it. It 
God made our bodies, when they are broken he is the 
one to mend them; and it is reasonable that we should 
call him in to do it. If my furnace in the cellar breaks 
down, there is no one so competent to repair it as the 
manufacturer. If the body is disordered, call in the 
maker of it. God did not make the law and then run 
away from it. What is a law of Nature ? It is God's 
usual way of doing things. But he has said that if 
his children ask him to do a thing, and he can con- 
sistently do it, he will do it. Go on with your pills 
and plasters and nostrums and elixirs and your cath- 
olicon,^ but remember that the mightiest agent in your 
recovery is prayer." 

But if you say this is all imagination, the Church 
rises with her millions of witnesses, and there are hun- 
dreds of them here in Edgar county, who will tell you 
they have tested the power of prayer in the sick-room 
and proved its efficacy. Bring our own Christian 
physicians to the witnsss-stand, and ask them if they 
can tell you of facts which prove it. The fact that 
such men as Tenbrook and Todd and Woolley, and 
Miller and Hays, are to-day members of the Christian 
Church, proves this, if nothing else, that they have 
tested prayer and believe in it. And if the testimony of 
Prof. Tyndall is so very valuable and desirable, is 
fiot the testimony of such men as Kewton and Pascal 



8 DISCUSSION ON FLAYER 

and Luther and Erasmus and Wesley and Knox and 
Calvin dnd Havelock and Washington and many of 
the most learned and gifted of the race worth some- 
thing ? You ask again ** Why does the Deity permit 
famine, disease and woe ? " I am not presumptious 
enough to say why God permits anything, except be- 
cause it pleases him. But you inquire also: *' Would 
it not be far better for us to learn what God*s fixed 
laws are, by studying physiology, philosophy, sci- 
ence, " etc. I answer that it is far better to study all 
of God's laws than to study a part, and, best of all, to 
study his moral laws which are given us in the Bible 
and admonish our hearers not only to obey physical 
law but moral law, if they would be happy here and 
**over the shining river;*' for I beg you to notice 
that your law of present physical life, and your phys- 
iology and philosophy and science does not even so 
much as tell you there is anything ** over the shining 
river.'* You get that from the Bible, which you do 
not profess to believe. Our Bible clearly reveals the 
life that is to come. Your science does not reveal 
anything beyond this life. We are not simply teach- 
ers of physiology, etc., but our mission is to preach 
the gospel which our Bibles contain, and its precious 
promises, both concerning the life that now is and 
that which is to come, and among them that blessed 
one which the Bible so clearly reveals, and that which 
the experience of every praying man has proved, 
*• Ask and ye shall receive," and thousands like it, to 
lead the soul to pray to God, who is the hearer and 
answerer of prayer. 

And I now suggest that you have the manliness to 
write hereafter over your own honest name, and do 
not sneak behind an anonymous signature. Gentle. 



DISCUSSION ON PKAYER 9 

men who ask honest questions will always receive 
courteous treatment **from the clergy," and no sin- 
cere seeker after truth need be ashamed of himself 
or afraid to confess it. R. D. Van Deursen. 



Reply by D. B. Mortimer, 

(Otherwise D. M, Bennett, who preferred to use his 
middle name as a signature.) 

Editor Gazette : I have read the Rev. Mr. Van 
Deursen's article in your paper of the 21st, in reply 
to *' A Liberal Thinker" of the 14th. The subject 
interests me considerably, and though I do not view 
it in the same light the Reverend gentleman does, I 
will venture to submit to you some of my views upon 
the subject, and if you deem them not intrusive and 
worthy a place in your columns, please insert. 

It is not at all singular that our Reverend friend 
should maintain the great efficacy of prayer. Those 
whose occupation it is to pray for others, and whose 
livelihood is in good part secured thereby, very natu- 
rally insist upon the vital importance of prayer. Did 
you ever hear of a physician who makes his living by 
the practice of medicine, denouncing drugs and the 
use of them ? Do you often hear practicing attorneys 
censuring the law and legal processes ? Or, is it com- 
mon for a life insurance agent to say a word against 
the policy and propriety of life insurance ? ** Every 
man to his trade ; " and as praying is part of the busi- 
ness of the clergy, it is quite in order they should 
speak in the highest terras of it. 

The reverend gentleman, however, does not go as 



10 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

far as the Catholic clergy do; they not only maintain 
the efficacy of prayer, but also of holy water, blessed 
candles, beads, rosaries, penancer crosses, etc. A 
Catholic devotee will insist as strenuously upon the 
great virtues of holy water as Mr. Van Deursen does 
of prayer; but some of us fail to be convinced by 
either, and we see much of delusion in both. 

The reverend gentleman perhaps uses as strong 
arguments as can be advanced in favor of the sub- 
ject, but I am sorry he cannot find later authorities 
than Moses and Luke. They may have been very 
eminent and good men in their time, and possibly 
knew as much of the efficacy of prayer as is known 
now, but they lived so long ago, in the dim, dark 
ages of the past, that it seems like going a good way 
back for proof of a proposition which, if true, can 
be easily demonstrated by unmistakable authorities 
of our own time and knowledge. 

If prayer is efficacious in changing the Kuler of the 
Universe, causing him to do what he otherwise would 
not do, I certainly think our Christian friends ought 
to be able to clearly prove it by persons now living 
among us, and whom we know to be truthful and 
trustworthy witnesses. If the matter cannot be estab- 
lished without going back from two to five thousand 
years and finding somebody who said somebody was 
sick — that somebody prayed and the sick were healed, 
would it not seem that prayer had, at all events, ceased 
to be of any practical benefit to us in these days, and 
has no efficacy to change the Eternal and Unchange- 
able? 

The Rev. Mr. Van Deursen apparently accepts **A 
Liberal Thinker's *' challenge as to trying the virtues 
of prayer in healing the sick, and says, ** bring on 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYEK. 11 

your hospital." But he makes the conditions so im- 
practicable and so utterly unreasonable that the test 
could never be made. After a three years' trial *'A 
Liberal Thinker " has to go to ** all parts of the 
world " and take the affidavit of every individual that 
they had not at any time within the three years made 
a prayer general or special for the sick without ex- 
cluding the prayerless ward in the hospital aforesaid. 
Before a thousandt)i part of the task could be accom- 
plished, and with the aid of ten thousand men, not 
only Mr. Yan Deursen and **A Liberal Thinker" 
would have passed over the " shining river," but hun- 
dreds of millions of others who are to be used at wit- 
nesses in the case. If one prayerful individual, Pa- 
gan, Mohammedan or Christian, living, for instance, 
in Australia, Patagonia or any other obscure corner 
of the earth, could be found who had, within the 
three years, made a prayer for the sick without ex- 
cluding the particular ward in which the test was to 
be made, Mr. Van Deursen would doubtless claim 
that that prayer had **done the business," and caused 
the Ruler of heaven and earth to cure the sick of 
that particular ward, which otherwise he would not 
have done. 

Now, if this test is ever to be made, would it not 
save a vast amount of time, labor and expense in 
going over the whole world to take the affidavit of 
every individual in it, for Mr. Yah Deursen, or some 
of his brethren of the clergy, just to inform the Al- 
mighty that a test was to be made of the efficacy of 
prayer, in two wards of a certain hospital, one having 
the benefit of prayer, and the other not, and to re- 
quest him not to interfere one way or the other in the 
iatter-mentioned ward, and to take no notice for 



12 DISCUSSION ON PRARER. 

three years of any prayer for the sick, either general 
or special, so far as that ward was concerned ? It 
seems to me if this arrangement could be made, and 
the Lord was duly notified, requested and engaged, 
the business could be satisfactorily settled and the 
test made without all this travel, time, trouble and 
expense. 

If praj'er really has the efficacy that is claimed for 
it, it is of the highest importance that every inhabit- 
ant of the globe should duly understand it; and if our 
Christian friends are so positive of it, why are they 
not willing to make a fair and practical test which 
will forever place the subject beyond a doubt ? If, on 
the other hand, their claims are untenable, and the 
Ruler of the Universe is not constantly changed by 
the millions of prayers being offered up to him by 
educated as well as ignorant, bigoted and short-sight- 
ed mortals in all parts of the world, it is very well 
also that we should be aware of that fact, as thereby 
a great amount of effort, time, talent and expense 
could be saved to be directed in some more useful, 
sensible and profitable channel. 

Mr. Yan Deursen names five of our prominent and 
worthy physicians who are members of churches and 
believers in prayer. His notice of them is doubtless 
intended to be complimentary, but he does not tell us 
when they dispense to their patients a dose of calo- 
mel or blue mass, whether they pray to God that it 
may act as a cathartic or alterative; nor when they 
administer ipecac, that it may nauseate; or quinine, 
that it may act as a tonic or stop the ague. He fails 
to notice Dr. Huston, Dr. Curl, Dr. Spangler, Dr. 
Armstrong, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Baum or Dr. Knight ; 
and I hope his silence in reference to them implies no 



DISCUSSION ON PRATER. 13 

censure, for they are also worthy men, and many 
deem them equally as skilful as their orthodox, and 
possibly more prayerful brethren. If prayer is neces- 
sary to make physic work, would not Dr. Armstrong's 
little sugar pills require a greater effort in prayer to 
make them operate, than a full dose of calomel? 
Dr. Green, by the by, he should not have passed un- 
noticed. He is, I believe, also a praying physician ; 
but it is questionable in which he has the most confi- 
dence — all-healing prayer or his "all-healing balsam.'' 
Prayer, if you ever noticed it, Mr. Editor, is not, 
after all, of Christian origin or a Christian institution, 
but a practice borrowed from the pagans, and was in 
existence and taught thousands of years before the 
author of Christianity came into the world. The 
worshipers of Buddha, Brahma, Osiris, Fot, Yahoo, 
Thor, Odin, Jupiter, Allah and hundreds of other 
gods, prayed to their deities thousands of years ago, 
firmly believing the same were influenced, placated, 
moved and appeased by the prayers thus offered. 
Savages and barbarians of all grades pray. The wor- 
shipers of the sun offer to it their prayers and suppli- 
cations, and fancy they are heard and answered. 
Those who bow down to crocodiles and snakes are 
profuse in their prayers. The worshipers of dumb 
idols of stone, wood and metal are very prayerful, 
and feel confident their gods both hear and answer 
their prayers. The devout Mohammedan prays regu- 
larly three times a day, always turning his face care- 
fully toward Mecca, his holy city. Now if it can be 
correctly computed what all this ceaseless praying 
amounts to, would it not be interesting to all classes 
to know just the net result ? If praying is a pleasure 
to the devotees of prayer, it is probably a harmless 



14 



DISCUSSION ON PRATER. 



amusement, but as for real utility in changing the 
Creator of heaven and earth in his plans and purposes, 
it will be found of no effect whatever. 

I have lived to see nearly three-score years. The 
first half of my life I was a believer in prayer, and 
practiced it daily and devoutly. After many years, 
upon reviewing my life, I could not see that I had 
eflected much by my prayers, and to this day I am 
unable to call to mind a single instance, where I have 
reason to believe that any one of the thousands of 
prayers I have offered, has had the slightest effect in 
changing Deity in his operations towards myself or 
any portion of the world's inhabitants. I presume, 
as my prayers were sincere and honest and persistent, 
that they possessed about the usual amount of efficacy, 
And I cannot see but what my life for the last twenty- 
five years, since I discontinued prayer, has been just 
as moral, exemplary and useful as before, when I 
prayed several times a day from year's end to year's 
end. 

My opportunities for observation of my fellow men 
have been fair. I have, of course, in my time known 
very many praying men and many who were not ; 
but I have failed to see very much difference in the 
two classes. I have not found that praying physi- 
cians were more successful in the treatment of the 
sick than those who relied solely upon science, I 
have failed to see that praying lawyers were any more 
sure to win their cases than those who neglected 
prayer. I have not seen that praying merchants sold 
any more goods or made better profits, or even were 
more to be trusted than those who did not pray. I 
have failed to see that praying farmers have better 
crops, more timely rains, more productive soil, or 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 15 

finer cattle and hogs than those who did not pray at 
all. I therefore fail to see the advantage of so much 
time spent in prayer. My belief is that everything 
around us is governed by fixed and unchangeable 
laws, that cannot be set aside or changed by entreaty 
or supplication ; that every event that has ever trans- 
pired has had a natural and sufficient cause to pro- 
duce it. As all results are the eflfects of causes, and 
as there are causes sufficient for all results, I cannot 
see the necessity of prayer to eflect any changes or 
any results. 

To my mind it would be perfectly useless for us to 
pray that every morning the sun may rise in the 
East and set in the evening in the West ; that summer 
may year after year succeed winter and winter sum- 
mer ; that the laws of attraction and gravitation may 
not be suspended; that the atmosphere may continue 
to surround the earth ; that light and heat may be 
regularly dispensed to us by the fountain of light ; 
that twice two may always be four ; but it would be 
equally as sensible as the numberless prayers that are 
offered for all the blessings connected with our exist- 
ence. 

It is claimed there is a being who hears all prayer 
and answers such as he sees fit ; but if any one being 
is compelled to listen to the countless millions of 
prayers that are incessantly being made, would it not 
be enough to confuse and craze a mind far greater 
than a Michael or a Gabriel ? Would not a countless 
host of clerks be required to make a record of this 
continuous stream of prayer ? 

Let me ask what kind of a Deity it would be, who 
every day, every hour, every minute — yes every second 
— changed his plans and purposes in keeping with thii 



16 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER 

constant outpouring of prayer, much of it ignorant, 
senseless, absurd, dictatorial and conflicting ? 

The Rev. Theodore Parker once said: '*The only 
prayer that amounts to anything is ^jfbr^," and I be- 
lieve the position is a correct one. In this kind of 
prayer, welldirected^ let us all freely improve and aim 
to excel, and I believe it will be far more profitable 
and satisfactory than this constant begging, beseech- 
ing and supplicating the Unseen and TJnknow7i which 
the clergy so persistently tell us is so pleasing to him 
and so necessary to ourselves. 

The Rev. Mr. YanDeursen calls our attention to the 
fact that our ideas of a life beyond the grave are ob- 
tained from the Bible. I beg his pardon, but such is 
not the case. The much larger and older part of the 
Bible says little or nothing about a future existence^ 
and all its promises, penalties and references are con- 
fined to this life only. The New Testament vaguely 
throws out some observations about the '*New Jeru- 
salem," the golden streets, the pearly gates, etc., but 
it was not written until long after the doctrine of a 
future life was .taught and believed by many nations 
who were never Jews nor Christians. 

Mr. Van Deursen also alludes to God as being the 
maker of our bodies. He is, probably, in the same 
sense as he is the maker of horses, dogs, fishes, 
worms and insects. I will not, however, enlarge up- 
on this subject. I fear I have already been too pro- 
lix. I beg your pardon for trespassing so far upon 
your kindness. D. B. Mortimer. 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER 17 

Mr. Van Deursen declining to discuss the subject 
farther, the Rev. Wm. Holt, of the Christian Church 
valorously came to the front as follows: 

Efficacy of Prayer. 

Editor Beacon: — I have read the articles which 
have appeared upon the above-named subject — one 
from Rev. Mr. Van Deursen, one from **A Liberal 
Thinker," and last, but not least, one from D. B. 
Mortimer, ** A Liberal Thinker" also, no doubt. 

I deem it not only 'Miberal thinking," but general 
looseness, the way those last named gentlemen handle 
the solemn ordinances of God's house, and what 
seems still worse for those "liberal thinkers," though 
claiming morality and common courtesy, is to hear 
them impeach the motives of those who regard pray- 
er as a Christian duty and a great privilege. For D. 
B. M. does no less than this when he speaks of ** those 
whose occupation is to pray for others. " But he says, 
'Hhe reverend gentleman [Van Duersen] does not go 
as far as the Catholic clergy do," etc. Of course not. 
The Bible does not sanction the conduct of the Cath- 
olic clergy. 

But, Doctor, when you set aside the Bible as God*s 
revealed will, and assume the ground of a mere 
Fatalist, by what authority do you find fault with us? 
We are just what the doctrine of Fatalism has made 
us, therefore, you should not scribble another line 
against us, or our long prayers. 

We are much encouraged to know that even the 
skeptic concedes the fact that ** Moses and St. Luka 
were "oery eminent and good men in their time, and 
possibly knew as much of the efficacy of prayer as is 
known now," etc. 



18 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

We would be truly ungrateful, were we not to fee 
ourselves under some obligation to D. B. M. for this 
important concession. Important, because if they 
were ** eminent and good men ^^ they were not likely 
to be deceived, neither would they try to deceive 
others. Then, of course, they wrote the portions of 
the Bible attributed to them. St. Luke says that 
Moses was a prophet, and testified of a coming proph- 
et — Christ — whom you should hear in all things/* and 
it shall come to pass that every soul who will not 
hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the 
people,** etc. See Acts iii, 22. 

But D. B. M. says ** they lived a long time ago, in 
the dim, dark ages of the past," etc. Doubtless it 
does seem dark to his vision. Why not? The past, 
present and future all seem dark to the skeptic. 

D. B. M. informs us that he lived for many years 
a devout and prayerful life. But after reviewing his 
life, he could not see that he had effected much by 
bis prayers, and to-day he is unable to call to mind a 
single instance in which his prayers had the slightest 
effect in changing the Deity, etc. This is truly re- 
markable. What sensible man ever thought of 
* * changing the mind of God ?'' But he c ould not see 
that his prayers had effected any thing I I do not won- 
der at the failure. You were walking '* by sight ^^^ and 
at the same time could not see. But the Christian 
walks *' by faith." See 2 Coi., v. 7. In this, Mr. 
Editor, we see the grand secret of their failure and 
skepticism. 

This vast and boundless Universe, with everything 
of which we can conceive, had its origin in miracle ; 
the predictions of the ancient prophets, the teachings 
of Jesus Christ and his Apostles were confirmed by 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 19 

miracles. Hence, says St. Paul : **God also bear- 
ing them witness with signs and wonders, and divers 
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to 
-his will." Heb. ii , 4. 

God did not have to change his will to work mira- 
cles, for the confirmation of truths or revelation, 
for Paul says it was according to his will. It was 
also his will that those miracles which were given for 
a special purpose should cease as soon as that purpose 
was accomplished. See 1 Cor. , 13 Ch. 

Therefore Prof. Tyndall's objections to the Bible, 
with all the little skeptics who are following in the 
wake, are based upon their ignorance of the Bible 
and its teachings. 

But why pray, unless God will answer by signs 
from Heaven ? Because God has commanded it. 
How can we know that our prayers are heard with- 
out a sign ? I answer, first, know that you are a 
proper subject for prayer ; second, how to pray, or 
what to pray for. When this rule is observed, how 
may I know that God hears my prayer ? I answer, 
third, because he has promised to hear such. How, 
then, do I know that my prayers are answered ? 
Fourth, by an implicit confidence in the goodness and 
promises of God. 1 John v, 14, 15. 

But will I feel better after such prayer is ofiered ? 
Yes, but your good feelings will arise from, and be 
the result of, your faith in the promises and goodness 
of God. and not your faith the result of your feeling, 
as is thought by many. 

It is gratifying to many of us, who still hold to the 
good old way, if these liberal-minded gentlemen would 
inform us as to their faith. They, of course, do not 
believe in Christianity as taught by Christ and the 



so DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

Apostles. It may be that they simply believe in all 
unbelief. 

Do they believe in Spiritualism, Naturalism, Pan- 
theism or Atheism ? Will they say which ? If not, 
there can be nothing learned from them. 

We believe in Christ ; and when D. B. M. informs 
us of his failure to continue in the faith, he only con- 
firms what the inspired Apostle said would come to 
pass, that '* men would turn away from the truth and 
give head to seducing spirits," etc. 1 Tim., 4 Ch. 

There is, in reality, Mr. Editor but one question to 
be answered in order to know where these very lib- 
eral-minded gentleman stand, viz : Is Christianity a 
divine institution ? Will they say yes, or will they 
continue in the dark, and thereby fulfill the words of 
Jesus ? 

*'Men love darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds are evil." Wm. Holt. 



Reply to Rey. Wm. Holt. 

Editor Gazette: In the Beacon and Blade, of 
June 13th, I noticed the reply of Rev. Wm. Holt, to 
an article of mine on the efficacy of prayer, which 
appeared in your paper of June 4th, and, desiring to 
respond to it, and have it appear in the Bea&on. I asked 
friend Moore if he would publish a rejoinder if I 
would write one. He said yes, but, upon handing it 
to him, it did not seem to comport with his views of 
fairness to let both sides to be heard in his paper, and 
he refused my article. Will you be kind enough to 
insert it in the Gazette t 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 21 

From the position occupied by the Reverend gen- 
tleman, I looked for some argument , and for some 
new light upon the subject, or some results he had 
himself accomplished in the line of prayer, but I fail 
to see anything of the kind. I cannot perceive that 
he controverts any position I took, or really adds 
anything to what has already been said. He quotes 
several passages of Scripture, which may be supposed 
to exhibit ability and research, and answer the purpose 
when arguments are not at hand. Some yoars ago, I 
knew a strolling, crazy woman (who, in early life, 
had been crossed in love) who, I think, could all day 
long, quote two passages of Scripture to the reverend 
gentleman's one, and with equal aptness and flippan- 
cy, to say the least. If any one offended her or op- 
posed her, she would hurl at them such a perfect 
torrent of Scripture quotations, bs would nearly make 
one's head swim. By the by, almost anything can be 
proved by detached passages from the Bible. There 
is hardly a crime, such as murder, robbery, rapine, 
theft, lying, and the whole category, but what can be 
justified by it, and as to matters of belief, are not all 
the possible shades of opinion and doctrine, upon the 
various theological subjects, however antagonistical 
and contradictory, positively proved by the Bible? 
It was said, many years ago, by a quaint individual, 
that * ' the Bible is like a fiddle — any tune can be play- 
ed upon it you please." 

The Rev. Mr. Holt seems to be sh(5cked with the 
** general looseness with which I handle the ordinances 
of God's house," and speaks of the occupation of the 
clergy being in part to pray for others. *' God's 
house," it strikes me, is rather an extensive institu- 
tion, and there are a great number of us who claim 



22 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

an interest in it equal to that of himself or any other 
individual. It is hardly to be presumed, he even, has 
anymore right in this ** house, 'V than the humblest of 
us. He does not clearly state what he means by the 
'* solemn ordinances," but probably prayer is one. I 
did not know but what it was perfectly legitimate and 
proper for any one to speak of it who choose to. As 
to the occupation of the clergy, is it not really as 
much an occupation as any business that is pursued 
for a livelihood ? Do not young men prepare for it 
and engage in it as a means of securing their * * bread 
and butter," as really as in the practice of law or med- 
icine, or any other commercial or mechanical pursuit ? 
Are not their services ofiered in the market to the 
highest bidders as really as those following other 
avocations? Is not preaching and praying really a 
trade as much as shoemaking or blacksmithing ? For 
salaries running from $1,000 and $2,000 to $10,000 and 
$20,000 per year, it seems one could well afford to 
preach a good many sermons and make a great num- 
ber of prayers, and get their living much easier at 
that, than is done at tilling the soil, shoeing horses or 
carrying brick and mortar. Does the gentleman say 
that it is not for money that he preaches and prays ? 
If the pay was to be stopped, would not the preach- 
ing and praying stop also ? And I submit it to him 
in all sincerity, that if that should be the case with 
him, would he not return to the honest business of 
following the plow, or some other means of making a 
living ? It strikes me the world has had too many 
hundreds of thousands of priests of all classes and 
kinds, that we in this nineteenth century, should be 
afraid to speak of their occupation with the same 
freedom as that of other men. 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER, 23^ 

I believe I have nearly the same respect for a good 
clergyman that I have for any other man ; but for a 
mere pretender or hypocrite, or one guilty of immoral 
practices, I entertain no more respect than for anjr 
other men pursuing that kind of course. I have been 
acquainted with many clergymen in my time, who 
were in every way excellent and worthy gentlemen ; 
but I regret we have so many painful evidences 
throughout the country, of ** black sheep" among 
them. 

To show my respect for worthy members of the 
clergy, as well as to further elucidate the subject of 
the efficacy of prayer, I will here quote what some of 
them have said upon the subject, and which appears 
to me to be reasonable and consistent. In a sermon 
on prayer by the Rev. William Leechman, D. D* 
Principal and Professor of Divinity in the college of 
Glasgow [strictly orthodox], the following passages 
occur: *' It is urged, since God is infinite in goodness^ 
he is always disposed to bestow on his creatures what- 
ever is proper for them, and since he is infinite in 
wisdom, he will always choose the fittest t^me and the 
best manner of bestowing it. To what purpose then 
do we entreat him to do whit iie certainly will do^ 
without any solicitation or importunity?" '* It is not 
the design of prayer to give information to our Creator 
of things he was unacquainted with before; so neither 
is it the design of it to move his affections, as good 
speakers move the hearts of their hearers by the pa- 
thetic arts of oratory nor to raise his pity as beggars, by 
their importunities and tears, work upon the compas- 
sion of by-standers. God is not subject to the sudden 
passions and emotions we feel, nor to any change of 
his measures and conduct by their influence; he is not 



M DISCUSSION ON PRAKER. 

wrought upon and changed by our prayers, for * with 
him there is no variableness or shadow of turning."* 
Dr. Blair, a Scotch divine, also of an orthodox 
church, gave utterance to similar views in his sermon 
on the ** Unchangeablenes of the Divine Nature," as 
follows: '*To what purpose, it may be urged, is ho- 
mage addressed to a Being whose purpose is unalter- 
ably fixed; to whom our righteousness extendeth not; 
whom by no arguments we can persuade, and by no 
supplication we can modify ? The objection would 
hav« weight if, in our religious addresses, we design 
to work any alteration on God either by giving him 
information of what he did not know, or by exciting 
affections he did not possess; or by inducing him t^ 
change measures he had previously formed. Bui 
they are only crude and imperfect notions of religion 
which can suggest such ideas. The change which 
our devotions are intended to make is upon ourselves 

AND NOT UPON THE ALMIGHTY." 

The same views are inculcated by the philosopher. 
Dr. Kames, thus: ** The Being that made the world 
governs it by the laws that are inflexible, because they 
are the best; and to imagine that he can be moved by 
prayers, oblations or sacrifices to vary his plan of 
government, is an impious thought — degrading the 
Deity to a level with ourselves." 

These remarks strike me as being much sounder 
and more reasonable than Mr. Holt's talk about mira- 
cles, indicating that they are the result of prayer. 

The reverend gentleman appears to derive a great 
amount of satisfaction from my remark that Moses 
and Luke may have been very eminent and good men 
in their time ; but I fear I will have to lessen his 
pleasure, somewhat, by some modification I have to 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 25 

make of that remark. Moses was, perhaps, eminent 
as a law-giver (such laws as they were), and eminent 
as a leader of a stubborn, war- like and rapacious peo- 
ple. He was eminent as a cruel tyrant, plunderer^ 
robber and murderer, which is fully set forth in the 
thirty -first chapter of Numbers, wherein is narrated 
his sending out twelve thousand warriors of the Is- 
raelites to rob, despoil and put to death a neighboring 
nation — the Midianites — a quiet, peaceable people, de- 
voted to the pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. 
It states that the five kings of Midian and all the men 
were put to death, and the women and children cap- 
tured, together with 675,000 sheep, 72,000 beef cattle, 
61,000 asses; with several hundred shekels of gold, 
besides jewels and other valuables. All these the 
despoilers took back with them to their camp, but 
Moses was very angry with the oi^cers and captains 
of the host, and said : " Have you saved all the wo- 
men alive ?" ** Kill every male among the little ones, . 
and every woman that hath known man by lying with 
him ; but all the women children that have not 
known a man by lying with him, keep for your- 
selves." 

Thirty-two thousand virgins, in pwrsuance to these 
orders of Moses, were kept and divid-ed out pro rata 
among the different tribes, and for purposes easily un- 
derstood. The others — women and children — prob- 
ably, as many as fifty thousand helpless and defence- 
less beings, were inhumanly put to death. Was any- 
thing more monstrous, fiendish, cruel and blood- 
thirsty ever perpetrated by Nero, or Caligula, ol 
Rome — by the Apaches of Arizona, or by Captain 
Jack and the Modocs of the Lava Beds ? That Mo- 
ses also committed murder in cold blood— see Exodua 



26 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

ii. 13 — whea he killed an Egyptian and buried him in 
the sand. 

We know nothing against Luke, and only, that two 
books in the New Testament are attributed to him, 
though he nowhere claims that he wrote them by in- 
spiration. But at the Council of Catholic bishops, 
prelates and priests, held at Nice, some three hun- 
dred and twenty-five years after Christ, which decid- 
ed by vote what books should, and what books should 
not be admitted into the collection of the writings of 
various persons, known and unknown, called the 
Bible. Luke's book was admitted by the merest 
squeeze, having a majority of a single vote. That 
was much closer than John Logan's majority in our 
late city election. Had Luke fallen short that one 
vote, Mr. Holt's reverence, as well as that of thou- 
sands of his Christian friends, for the saint's writings, 
would doubtless have been much less than now. 
-What a diflerence one vote sometimes makes ! 

The reverend gentleman talks about us *' small 
skeptics," ** followers of Tyndall," etc. We are per- 
haps hardly worthy to be called followers of so able 
and learned a man, but we are small enough, doubt- 
less. How is it with the clergy? Are any of them 
small in calibre and moral strength ; or are they all 
great ? How is it, Mr. Holt ? 

I do not precisely understand what the gentleman 
means when he speaks of my assuming the ground of 
a mere fatalist. 1 am no fatalist, nor do I believe in 
the government of fate as I understand the term ; 
but in a system of unerring and unchangeable laws 
established by the Ruler of the Universe. 

The gentleman's logic is rathei amusing, thus: '*If 
they (Moses and Luke) were eminent and good men, 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 27 

they were not likely to be deceiyed, neither would 
they try to deceive others. Then, of course, ihey 
wrote the portions of the Bible attributed to them.'^ 
Is not that a happy way of jumping at conclusions ? 
Anything can be proved by such logic. 

The gentleman asks for my views and belief. I 
would be happy to enlighten him, but I fear this ar- 
ticle has already reached such limits as to preclude 
my doing so at much length at this time. Suffice it 
now to say that I am a lover of truth and an admirer 
of the beautiful. I believe in the existence of a Su- 
preme Power, which exists in, and permeates not only 
this world, but the countless millions of other worlds 
with which space is filled ; but I do not believe in the 
Jewish God, a fickle, changeable, cruel and malicious 
person, nor do I feel obligated to make the odious 
Jewish system of theology, mine. Whether Deity is 
an impersonal principle and power, which prevades 
the entire iJniverse alike, and is in the -most distant 
star, a tnousand million times farther away than the 
sun, just as much as here, or whether he is a person, 
having a head, a face, body, arms and legs, with pas- 
sions and impulses as we have, sitting upon a throne 
and occupying a - single point in the heavens ; or 
whether he is a monster with smoke issuing from his 
nostrils, fire and e two-edged sword from his mouth, 
flames from his eyes, horns from his hands, etc. , as 
described in the Bible, it is probable Mr. Holt and I 
will never be able to positively establish. 

I believe our duty in this life is confined principally 
to ourselves, and to our feliow-beings. God is so far 
beyond our knowledge and comprehension that we 
can neither injure him by our bad conduct nor bene- 
fit him by our adoration, prayer or advice ; but we 



28 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

can, by our actions, greatly injure or benefit ourselves 
and Qur fellow mortals. The greatest good we can 
accomplish while passing through life, I believe, is to 
do wrong to no man, and to do all in our power to 
make our fellow creatures happy. 

From the account we have of Jesus, I acknowledge 
to his being a good sort of personage, actuated by 
commendable motives and philanthropic intentions, 
though not possessd of such scientific knowledge as is 
now in the world, and embraced in the studies of 
geology, astronomy, chemistry, natural philosophy 
and other similar sciences ; nor do I believe him to be 
the Creator and Euler of the Universe. 

I regard the hundreds of different forms of religions, 
with which the earth is filled, as all of human origin, 
most qf them containing much that is good, as well as 
a great deal that is absurd and ridiculous. I regard 
Christianity as no exception to the rule, and that 
while it contains much that is commendable, it 
abounds in absurdities and errors, and is chiefly made 
up of dogmas, borrowed and adopted from pre-exist- 
ent systems of theology. 

While it may be claimed to contain more that is 
good than any previous system of religion, truth com- 
pels me to state that it also contains more that has 
proved harmful and injurious to the human race. 
More lives have been taken, more blood has been 
shed, more intolerance has been exercised in its name 
than in all the other systems of religion put together. 

I would freely state my belief much further if it 
would gratify the gentleman, but it, is not proper in 
this article to go at ISiore length. ^Should he wish to 
discuss with me, in the public papers, either of the 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER 29 

points touched upon, or others arising out of them, I 
am at his service. 

In the winding-up quotation of his article, the rev- 
erend gentleman has the courtesy to represent that 
my skepticism and unbelief, as well as that of others, 
arise from bad conduct, or, in other words, that we 
** choose darkness rather than ligLt, because our deeds 
are evil." It may be entirely called for, and in good 
taste for the gentleman to make this insinuation, but 
it hardly appears so to me. I trust, however, my 
past and present life, for one, will compare not unfa- 
vorably with his. I take pleasure in assuring him 
I have endeavored to lead a useful life. I have intend- 
ed to be guilty of as few wrongs as possible. I am glad 
I am able to say I have never murdered; I have never 
robbed; I have aimed to not bear false witness. I 
have associated with the upright and moral portions 
of society. ^ I have not been a drunkard nor a de- 
bauchee. I have not been the companion of roughs 
and gamblers, and never whipped a defenseless 
woman with plow-lines. 

Some other points of the gentleman's article I 
would like to notice, but I have doubtless already 
said enough. D. B. Mortimer. 



Rev. Wm. Holt's Reply. 

Editor Gazette: — Your issue of July 2d contains 
another lengthy article from D. B. Mortimer— /aZ^^Zy 
80 caZW— claiming to be a reply to my article copied 
from the Beacon^ and doubtless our citizens will agree 
with me in saying that it is not a reply to anything 



,30 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER 

that I have said; but for absurdities, self-contradic- 
tions, harsh epithets aad personal insinuations, it is 
certainly a masterpiece, and the Doctor is welcome to 
all the notoriety and credit which can possibly be de- 
rived from such communications. This is just what 
we may expect from ''the enemies of the cross of 
Christ, whose end,'' says St. Paul, ** is destruction," 
(?hil. iii. 14.) What a pity it is that the Doctor 
could not control his bad temper and keep it from 
cropping out, but such is the weakness of humanity 
when uncontrolled by the Divine influence. 

Only a few things need be said to hiing this ungodly 
assault upon Christianity and its advocates to a close; 
and we wish the community to bear in mind the fact 
that this war was commenced by those scientific, lib- 
eral-minded and good-hearted (?) gentlemen, and sim- 
ply because I volunteered to contribute my mite in 
defence oi the Bible and humanity, and so successfully 
routed them from their hiding-place, exposing their 
glaring sophistry ; pointing out the barrenness of the 
soil upon which they stand, I am made the object of 
their ill-temper and harsh epithets. 

The community will understand all this. The op- 
posers of the Bible are generally at peace among 
themselves, and Had I let the Doctor alone in his bur- 
lesque upon prayer, doubtless I would have been one 
of the " white sheep^ But in this I seem to be unfor- 
unate. , 

The mode of warfare adopted by the Doctor is 
never resorted to by controversialists when they have 
other material on hand; but when a man is completely 
7anquished, when his darling hobby is swept away, 
he must either surrender like a man or resort to per- 
sonal abuse as he has done. 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 31 

But I must not retaliate. Our Lord did not, *' * When 
reviled he reviled not again, when persecuted he 
threatened not, but committed himself to him who 
judgeth righteously." 

We would infer from the Doctor's reference to the 
"crazy woman" who quoted Scripture so fluently 
that my quotations had set his head swimming. In 
fact, I think that I can prove to the satisfaction of 
every one, from his own articles, that his head is just 
the opposite to what it was when he wrote his first 
article; that it has, to say the least, gone half way 
round. Hear him: **For many years I lived a devout 
and prayerful life, but after reviewing my past life I 
could not see that I had effected much by my prayers, 
and to-day I am unable to call to my mind a single 
instance in which my prayers had the slightest effect in 
(;^<z?i5m^ the Deity.'* 

Now cannot every one see from the above quota- 
tion that during the *' many years " of his prayerful 
life that his only conception of the efficacy of prayer 
was that it changed the mind of God ? 

Hear one of the authors quoted and indorsed by the 
Doctor in his last article ; ** The change which our 
devotions are intended to make is upon dUTselTes and 
not upon the Almighty.^' That sounds about right. 
Where now are his Infidel objections to prayer ? In 
view of this radical change in the Doctor's position, 
we should thank God and take courage ; for it is 
clearly to be seen that his head is just right on this 
subject. We also trust the very remembrance of the 
** crazy woman" will be beneficial to the Doctor and 
all who have been influenced by him, and if we could 
only quote as many Scriptures as this '* crazy woman " 
(for he says she could quote two passages to our one) 



38 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

and thereby swim his heart around with his head, he 
would trouble the community no more with his Infi- 
del views, and doubtless he would have better success 
in his devotions than he had while trying to " change 
the mind of God." 

When the Doctor wrote his first essay, he implica- 
ted all the clergymen as standing in defense of pray- 
er because it was an occupation — *'they prayed for 
money ! " but it seems now that he has respect for all 
except the *' black sheep." Well, we are happy to 
report him convalescent upon this subject also; we 
hope that he may continue to improve. But he puts 
the following questions directly to me: *'Does the 
gentleman say that it is not for money that he preaches 
and prays ? " I say it is not ! ** If the pay was to 
be stopped, would not the preaching and prajang stop 
also?" No SIR. I can say, without fear of success- 
ful contradiction, that I have preached and prayed 
without remuneration; can and will do so again if 
necessary. But all such insinuations against the mo- 
tives of those who stand up in defense of the religion 
of Jesus Christ, are wicked in their very nature, and 
this may be the reason why the Doctor tried to hide 
behind a fictitious name until the editor of the Beacon 
raised the curtain. 

The Doctor did say that ** Moses and Saint Luke 
were very eminent and good men in their days," but 
now he says that ** Moses was a cruel tyrant — a mur- 
derer — a robber, etc. But this he says is only his 
modification. If it is not a palpable contradiction of 
himself, I defy any man to make one. Now, if the 
Doctor will thus lampoon this ancient and faithful 
servant of God, whom Paul says '* was faithful as a 
servant,'' what may Christians of to-day expect ? 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 33 

The gentleman assumes that the Midianites were 
an honest, inofiensive nation ; but if the reader will 
examine 25th chap, of Numbers, he will find that 
they had vexed and opposed the Israelites, and that 
God commanded Moses to slay them for their wicked- 
ness. Moses was a law-giver, chosen of God ; he lived 
and ruled under a dispensation of temporal rewsu'ds 
and punishments, and was simply executing the law 
against evil doers. The Doctor could, upon the same 
hypothesis, accuse George Washington, A. Lincoln 
and U. S. Grant, of murder. But this he would not 
do, therefore he should not abuse Moses. 

But the Doctor says that "Jesus was a good man, 
actuated by the best of motives, but he did not under- 
stand the sciences," etc. Then he was not as wise a? 
the Doctor; for he knows enough of the sciences to 
take him away from the religion of his fathers, and 
his otherwise prayerful life. That, to say the least, 
sounds like presumption. If Jesus was a good man he 
did not try to deceive the people ; and unless his im- 
mediate followers were deceived^ Christianity is true, 
and this is all we want to know. 

Three questions answered and the Christian relig- 
ion is established, or proven to be divine : 

1st. Was Jesus a good man and actuated by the 
best motives? This the Doctor answers himself in the 
affirmative. 

2d. Were the apostles Iionest men? The second will 
be answered in the same way by all who will look for 
a moment at the sacrifices made and the hardships en- 
dured by them. Dishonest men do not sacrifice all 
worldly goods and even their own lives for what they 
know to be false. But the apostles did all this, there- 
fore they were honest men. 



S4 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

3d. Were the things to which they testified plain 
and tangible? If so, the questions are all answered. 
Let us see. They were with him three and a half 
years, heard his teaching, witnessed his wonderful 
miracles, saw him arrested, saw him stripped of his 
own raiment, saw him fall under the cross which they 
compelled him to bear, saw him nailed to and hang- 
ing upon the cross, hear the rumbling of the rocks as 
they were being rent, felt the trembling of the earth 
under their feet, saw the sun hide his face and the 
consequent darkness which enshrouded the earth. 
Were these facts plain ? Could they have been de- 
ceived in these things ? Surely not. Then after he has 
risen from the dead they were equally plain. We would 
like to pursue this train of thought further but space 
forbids at present. We will continue in this faith 
until convinced of its fallacy. 

In reply to the Doctor's last and lovely (?) paragraph, 
I will say that his insinuations are unjust and most of 
them untrue, but he tries to justify himself by my 
reference to the words of Jesus: '*Men love dark- 
ness," etc. But Doctor, I did not apply this passage 
to you, only upon the condition that you remain in 
the dark, refuse to define your faith, etc. 

It may be that if our lives (prior to my conversion to 
Christ) were compared, that the Doctor would be con- 
sidered the better man of the two, from the fact that 
he infonns us that the first half of his life was spent 
in a devout and prayerful manner. Mine was not. I 
frankly confess that I had sinned in many ways, and 
because ihe Lord in his great mercy saved me from 
those sins, I love him most dearly. But the difference 
seems to be about this: That while I was made to see 
and abhor sin, and by the help of God endeavored to 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 85 

turn away from It, that about that time the Doctor 
turned away from the good old religion of our fathers 
and became a skeptic. 

Again he says: "I have never murdered, I have 
never robbed, I have aimed to bear not false wit- 
ness," etc. Will the gentleman say that Mr. Holt 
has committed either of these crimes? If lie feels 
disposed, let him say that I have. I can also sa3' 
that I was not the companion of drunkards to any 
great extent, but, like many other young men, I was 
for a few years occasionally tempted and drawn away. 
As it regards the gambling alluded to by the Doctor, 
I will say, for his edification, that the greater part of 
my gambling was done wjien but a boy at an occa- 
sional shooting match, and I was almost as successful 
with the rifle as I am now in opposing Intidelity. 

As to your reference to the plow-lines, I will only 
say, ask those who know all about the circumstances. 
I refer the reader to Thomas Cox, ten miles east of 
this cily; also Benj. Yanhauten, William Hodgens, 
Philo. Harkness, Jordan Noblet, Ira Poe, in fact 
every substantial citizen of that vicinity. AU that was 
done, Doctor, was in defense of my aged mother, my 
wife and the peace of my own family. But I now 
fight with the sword of the spirit, which is the word 
of God, and would not hurt a hair on any one's head 
under the sun. For honesty and truthfulness, even 
before my relationship with the church, I think that 
I would compare not unfavorably with the Doctor. 
The true man will confess his faults. I think I can 
say, and my brethren will bear me witness, that 
where I have been known longest, there I am loved 
most. This, Doctor, so far as we are concerned, 
closes tlie tear. Wm. Holt. 



36 DISCUSSION ON PKAYER. 

Bennett's Rejoinder. 

Editor Gazette i I notice Mr. Holt is out again 
with another of his characteristic articles, in the last 
issue of your paper ; also in some one or two thou* 
sand additional sheets, many of which he distributed 
himself. It strikes me he is using considerable am- 
munition for small gomQ, (He counts me, I believe, 
with the ** small skeptics.") 

At the end he says, *' this doses the war,'''' It is en- 
tirely with himself. He began it, so far as we are 
concerned, and now if he is ready to quit, I am con- 
tent. As he opened the discussion, however, the 
closing belongs to me. 

I can make but little of this last effort of the gen- 
tleman's. I find but little argument in it, but numer- 
ous misstatements, misrepresentations, misquotations 
and much of boastfulness. I will notice a few in- 
stances : 

1. He says ** the name Mortimer is false." This is 
untrue ; it is my real name, and, consequently, not 
false. He says again, I tried to hide behind a "ficti- 
cious name," until his friend, the Editor of the Beacon^ 
"raised the curtain" on me. By ** raising the cur- 
tain," said Editor exposed his own misrepresentations 
and unfairness far more than any dishonesty of 
mine. 

2. Twice Mr. Holt accuses me of ** ill-temper," and 
without truth. I was not in ill temper at all, and was 
never in better humor in my life. 

3. He accuses me of using "harsh epithets" to- 
ward him. Untrue again. I did nothing of the 
kind. I called him no hard name, and said nothing 
ungentlemanly. 

4. He accuses me of using *' personal abuse." I 



DliSCLbSlO^' O^' PKAYEK. 37 

deny it, and defy him to point out a word of personal 
abuse in my article. 

5. He says I implicated all the clergy. This is 
false. I implicated none. 

6. He speaks of my ** burlesque on prayer." This 
is uncalled for. I have not burlesqued it, but ea- 
deavored to argue the question fairly. 

7. He says 1 have contradicted myself. Wholly 
untrue, and his efforts to show it is mere sophistry 
and effrontery. Is it not to be regretted that a Divine 
should resort to such pitiful quibbles, dodges and 
subterfuges ? 

8. Not in a single instance where he has undertaken 
to quote me has he done so correctly. He says I did 
say Moses and Luke were very eminent and good 
men. I certainly dii not, and I am surprised he 
should make such an assertion with my article before 
him. My words were, they may have been very emi- 
nent, etc. There is a wide difference, (if Mr. Holt 
ever noticed it) between asserting a matter positively 
and admitting it may have been so. The latter expres- 
sion implies at least as much doubt as belief. Here 
one of his strongest *' palpable contradictions" falls 
completely to the ground. 

There are several other misquotations and misrep- 
resentations, but I will let them pass, as well as his 
flings about my '' ungodly assault," *' wicked insinu- 
ations," "enemy of the cross," etc., as possessing very 
little force, and unworthy a reply, I will just ask the 
gentleman, however, if this is '* the mode of warfare 
resorted to by controversalists when they have other 
material on hand t " 

The gentleman asks if I wish to accuse him of 
murder, robbery and bearing false witness ? By no 



38 DISCUSSION ON PRARER. 

means. I never, for a moment, supposed him guilty 
of these crimes, and did not mean to insinuate that he 
was. 1 charged him with no crime nor misconduct. 
His insinuations were, that my belief arose from bad 
conduct, whereupon, in vindication of myself, I men- 
tioned several crimes of which I had not been guilty. 
I did not say he had been guilty of either of them or 
any others, and, if not, I cannot see why he should be 
so much disturbed. I felt that his inuendoes and in- 
sinuations called for all I said, and it is hardly with 
good grace that he now turns and complains of my 
using insinuations. He was the first to resort to them ; 
not me. I really know but little of the gentleman's 
life, past or present, and am glad to learn by his own 
statement, that it has been so blameless, I certainly 
have no desire to believe to the contrary, or to hunt 
up proof of improprieties upon his part. He says, 
also, where he is known the longest he is loved the 
best. That is truly a lovely state of things ; but 1 
believe if it was true of myself, I would prefer some 
other person to say it. 

Some people are troubled with an excess of modesty, 
and are hardly disposed to claim all the merit they 
are really entitled to. Bro. Holt's infirmities do not 
lie in that direction. He is evidently one who is well 
pleased with himself, and has succeeded in convinc- 
ing himself of his talents, if not others. Such expres- 
sions as ** successfully routing " us, ** sweeping away 
our darling hobby," ** completely vanquishing us," 
** exposing our glaring sophistry," etc., seems to be in 
the gentleman's style, though he claims to be ** con- 
trolled by Divine influence," while, as he asserts, I am 
not. Allow me to say these boastings remind me of 
similar expressions he used in his late debate wif^ 



DISCUSSION ON PRATER. 39 

Rev. Mr. Potter, a part of which I heard. His remarks 
were interspersed with expressions like these ; " Ah! 
Bro. Potter, you are a beaten man." *'You might as 
well surrender." *' Bro. Potter, I have got you now." 
**You are my prisoner," etc. There may be argu- 
ment in such talk as this, but if so 1 am unable to see 
it. 

He tells us he was formerly *' almost as successful 
with a rifle as he now is in opposing Infidelity." I 
wish he had told us just how expert he was with the 
rifle, and also how many Infidels he has completely 
used up. If he really is a *' pretty good shot," I be- 
lieve I would rather he would practice on me with the 
^* sword of the spirit," which he says is the weapon 
he now '* fights with," than with the rifle of steel and 
ball of lead. 

His statement that he ** has, and is willing to again 
preach and pray without remuneration," I shall take 
with a few grains of allowance. While he may have 
a fondness for the occupation, I shall expect him to 
keep an eye also upon the recompense. If he fails to 
find it in one location, I think he will see other '^fields 
and pastures green." Now I do not, for a moment, 
object to a clergyman's bein^ remunerated for his 
services by those who employ him, but in speaking of 
it as an occupation I have only classed it with others 
which are pursued as a means of livelihood. 

With characteristic assurance, the gentleman claims 
he has completely demolished me Jn this discussion, 
and that he is triumphant. For a moment let us 
review the ground gone over, and see, if we can, vihich 
has gained the victory. 

This discussion grew out of a sermon preached by 
Mr. Eades upon the efficacy of prayer, wherein the 



40 DISCUSSION ON TKAYEIl. 

usual ChristiaD arguments were used, and the regular 
orthodox views maintained — that " ihe prayers of the 
just are heard and answered" — that '4f we ask in 
faith we shall receive " — that as a result of prayer the 
blessings and favors of heaven are dispensed which 
otherwise would not be granted, etc. This sermon 
drew out a short article from a gentleman dissenting 
from these views, which was published in the Gazette. 
To this Mr. Yan Deursen responded, further advoca- 
ting the efficacy of prayer, and claiming also for it 
great value in healing the sick, which he endeavored 
to establish by reference to five of our orthodox 
physicians. This brought out a rejoinder from my- 
self, taking the opposite ground. Mr. Yan Deursen 
did not again respond, but Mr. Holt valiantly ** came 
to the rescue," and though I have been unable to make 
out exactly what the gentleman was ** driving at " I 
supposed he intended to occupy the same ground with 
the other reverend gentleman and maintain the effi- 
cacy of prayer. How stands the question now? The 
gentleman has completely abandoned the original 
position, and comes over to where 1 stand, and con- 
cedes all I claimed. He now admits that prayet has 
no efiect to change the mind of God or his purposes 
in the government of mankind. He assents to the 
doctrines of the authorities I quoted, that prayer has 
no effect in changing the Almighty, but only ourselves 
and says in reference to the same, ^^ It sounds about 
rigJif^ Now this is just the ground I occupied in the 
first place and all I claimed upon the subject ; and as 
the gentleman handsomely yields the point I submit 
it to all who have paid any attention to this discus- 
sion, on which banner victory has perched. 
The next Question is, will his brethren of the clergy 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 41 

and his Christian friends generally, abide by the de- 
cision he has come to ? Will they also admit that 
prayer cannot change the Almighty or change hia 
dispensations to the human family, and for this pur- 
pose possesses no efficacy ? If so, the argument is 
ended, and a long vexed question settled. If the 
doctrine of the efficacy of prayer is abandoned, so 
must also the belief in Special Providences. If one 
is given up, so must the other. They go together. 

It seems, then, prayer is only a species of self -cul- 
ture— lis exercise bringing our minds into suitable 
conditions, etc. Now, I believe in self-cuiture ; in 
forming good resolutions ; in executing good deeds ; 
in restraining improper impulses and all that ; but I 
hold these good results can be better accomplished by 
a method of self-examination and self-control than by 
the indirect process of addressing prayers to a» un- 
seen and an unknown Being, upon whom it is impos- 
sible for us to produce any change. 

Mr. Holt still sticks to Moses and brings Paul alon^ 
to establish his good character. I fear, even with 
Paul's help, he will hardly succeed in making me 
believe Moses was an immaculate saint, or the ''meek- 
est man" that overlived, as taught by our catechisms 
in ^the days of our childhood. The matter of the 
massacreing the whole nation of the Midianites — 
putting all the women and male children to death — 
and keeping the virgins for the use of the soldiers, he 
passes over as a small matter, and justifies it all by 
saying the Midianites had given provocation, and 
cites us to the 25th chapter of Numbers tor an account 
of it. It seems the men of the Israelites were too 
familiar with the women of the Midianites, and that 
on one occasion one of the Israelites named Zimri, 



42 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 

brought with him into camp a Midianitish woman 
named Cozbi, and they sinned together, whereupon 
Phineas, the priest, arose, and with a javelin, run 
them both through the body. The crime of Zimri 
was certainty equal to that of the woman, and the 
punishment inflicted by the priest must be considered 
as summary at all events, and that with that, the mat- 
ter should have ended. But no ; this was the pretext 
for putting to death a whole nation of people, includ- 
ing women and children who were entirely innocent 
of this woman's conduct. If justice, human or di- 
vine, required the death of the whole nation of the 
Midianites for the offense of one woman, would not 
also the same justice require the death of all the 
Israelites for the offense of one man ? The punish- 
ment was certainly terrible in proportion to the crime, 
and if one-tenth of the cases of adultery that have 
occurred since, had been punished with the same 
severity, the entire inhabitants of the globe had long 
since been exterminated. 

Mr. Holt seems to think Moses no worse than 
Washington, Lincoln and Grant, who were also 
** engaged in the prosecution of war." How is it? 
Did they cruelly exterminate a whole nation for the 
offense of one individual ? Did they put to death in 
cold blood scores of thousands of innocent women 
and suckling infants ? Did they turn ever at any one 
time 32,000 captured virgins for the use of their sol- 
diers ? I think not. They did nothing of the kind ; 
and in all the annals of history, ancient or modern, it 
will be difficult to find a character blackened, blood- 
thirsty and cruel enough to do such deeds, except 
Moses. 

The fact is, Moses was a barbarian. His peopk 



DISCUSSION ON P.JAYE^ 43 

urere a wild, wandering and barbarous nation. The 
sy lem of religion be established, consisting much in 
the slaying and burning of countle s numbers of bul- 
locks, rams and he-goats to appease and placate an 
angry Deity, was fit only for barbarians, and hardly 
lor them. 

My belief is that the Universal Father is as much 
the Grod of one nation as another — as much the father 
of ihe Midianites, Hittites and Jebusites as of the Is- 
raelites, and equally were they his creatures. To 
screen Moses from the just odium of his cruel, tyran- 
nical and bljod thirsty conduct, by claiming that he 
acted by the immediate command of the Almighty, 
is making the matter still worse. I regard it as blas- 
phemous in the extreme to charge such conduct upon 
the God of heaven — the Father alike of all nations 
and people — the beneficent and loving Ruler of the 
Universe. It is much easier for me to believe Moses 
acted from his own cruel impulses, and that in the 
account he wrote of it, he only claimed he acted by 
divine authority, than to believe for one moment that 
the loving father of all life would order thousands 
upon thousands of his helpless children to be massa- 
cred by others of his large family. When will divines 
discontinue charging such conduct upon the Al- 
mighty? When will they cease accusing him of be- 
ing malicious, revengeful, fickle, morose, cruel and 
unjust? When they drop the barbarian Moses, with 
his odious i^stem of theology and his improbable 
statements and claims, and preach God as he is — love, 
truth, kindness and mercy — always the same ** with- 
out variableness or a shadow of turning." 

The creeds of the churches, however, hang so di- 
rectly upon Moses and his writings, that the clergy 



44 DISCUSSION ON PRAYER 

must needs make him a saint of the " first- water "—a 
leader and a law-giver commissioned by heaven to do 
all the cruel, bloody and murderous deeds he commit- 
ted. But the time, I think, is coming when Mose?, 
his writings and actions will be regarded by enlight- 
ened humanity — divines as well as others— in their 
true character, and quite different from what has 
hitherto been held. 

Mr. Holt propounds three questions, touching the 
goodness of Jesus and the honesty and sincerity of 
his dicciples, and claims, if answered in the affirma- 
tive, the Christian religion will be established. I 
have not space here to enter fully into this subject. 
I am, however, perfectly willing to concede the hon- 
estv and sincerity of Jesus and his disciples. But 
that proves nothing. Sincerity is not a proof of 
truth. I^umerous systems of religion have been 
founded, nrd all in more or less honesty and sinceri- 
ty. The disciples of Mahomet were sincere. The 
followers of Qoorge Fox, Ann Lee and Joseph Smith 
were doubtless sincere. The mother who throws her 
little babe to the crocodiles in the Ganges, to appease 
and satisfy her God. is sincere — no higher proof of 
sincerity can be given , The infatuated devotee who 
throws himself under the wheels of the car of Jug- 
gernaut, and is thereby crushed, is sincere. No one 
can question that. Bnt all thftse are no proof of 
truth, but only lamentable evideace** of, the extent to 
which religious fanaticisjn '^nd error will carry the 
human mind. 0, for the prev^lenc^ o^ truth, light 
and knowledge throughout the broad eArth, when all 
the dark^and blinding effects of superstitli>r , hi^otvy, 
priestcraft and error may be dispelled from She nil* ds 
of men. 



DISCUSSION ON PRAYER. 46 

The religion of Jesus is plain and simple, but was 5 / 
*B0 changed and manipulated by those styled ^Hhe 
fearly Fathers " the popes and prelates of the Romish 
Church, many of whom were scheming and designing 
men— so many pagan notions and dogmas were 
engrafted into the creed with so much of pomp and 
display, until now, with all its gorgeous cathedrals, 
I magnificent churches, towering spires, costly organs, 

crucifixes and paintings, its formal creeds-with its 
ipaid choirs-its salaried and often arrogant priest- 
ihood and with all its wealth, influence, power, pride, 
: fashion, intolerance and exclusiveness, but little resem- 

blance can he traced between it and the life and 
I teachings of the lowly and wandering Jesus, without 
' a home wherein to rest his weary body, or a place to 

lay his head. 
I am well aware, however, I am not on the popula- 

^ side of this question, and that I would secure a mucl> 
greater degree of approval from the leaders and the 

I masses by advocating views opposite to those I enter- 
tain But I am not seeking popularity, nor do I ex 

i pect to run for office. If I am only on the side ol 
Truth and Right, I care for little else. My convic 
tions are honest and decided, and I am disposed to 
express them with freedom. I have no desire, how- 

* ever, to shock or wound the feelings of any, and if I 
have said aught amiss I ask pardon. 

At some future time I may enter more fully iDto 
the merits of the subjects here touched upon, but for 
the present this must suffice. Adieu. 

X>. B. MORTIMFK, 

otherwise 
D. Mortimer Ben^'B-'TY. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 7.] 



The Story of Creation. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



If a critical examination is made in the account of 
creation given in the book of Genesis, it must strike 
the candid enquirer that there is great imperfection 
in the statements there given, and a great want of har- 
mony between tliose statements and the truths 
of science taught by astronomy and geology. 

Upon this Bible account of creation is based the 
fabric of the Jewish and the Christian Religions. It 
is recognized and endorsed by Moses and other writ- 
ers of the Old Testament, and by Paul and other 
writers of the New Testament. Upon it is founded 
the entire theological system of the Christian world, 
and the plan of salvation of the human race. 

If, then, the base of the structure is defective and 
false— if it is upon such a sandy or miry foundation 
that it cannot stand, the edifice must inevitably come 
to the ground. 

God is not the author of falsehood. His works and 
utterances are replete with truth and perfection. If 



Z TUE STOKY OF CKEATIOK. 

God is the author of the Universe and all existences, 
he is also the author of the sciences, which are the 
most palpable truths known to the world, and have 
been the grandest and most unerring instructors with 
which mankind have been blessed. In fact, we hold 
that the sciences are among the most divine elements 
of which humanity has any knowledge or conception. 
In a word, the true God is the God of Science. 

If, then, God is the author of the Universe, and the 
author of science, and should vouchsafe to his crea- 
tures an account of the creation, that account must 
not only be replete with truth, but must also be iR 
perfect unison with the science that he, himself, inaug- 
urated. Whatever account cannot come up to this 
standard, must be set down as false, and not proceed- 
ing from God, directly, or indirectly. 

How is it with the Bible account of the creation ? 
Does it come up to this standard ? We think not! it 
falls lamentably short in every particular. 

It is claimed that this account was writen by Moses, 
who was inspired by God. We know not upon what 
authority this claim is set up. The story nowhere bears 
his imprint. He nowhere asserts he was the author 
of it. No writer of the Old Testament asserts it, and 
no writer of the New Testament asserts it, ^nd 
if they did, it could be with no knowledge of its truth - 
fulness, as they had no better means of knowing the 
author than we have. 

It is not very material who the author was, but our 
entire ignorance only proves how unsafe it is to attach 
any special importance to it, or to yield our assent 
that it is an emanation from Deity. 

It was, of course, written by someh\ima.n. being, and 
by one, too, who was not present when the events ave 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 6 

supposed to have occurred which he attempts to nar- 
rate; for no mortal was there, and not one was in exist- 
ence. 

The writer, then, must simply have drawn upon his 
imagination for the statements he makes, or merely 
repeated the legends and traditions handed down by 
his forefathers. God could not have dictated such a 
story, for it is untrue, and in direct contradiction to 
himself, as we have seen, and will further aim to 
show. 

Science has taught us the truth of which every 
school boy is fully cognizant, that the earth is a sphere 
or gioDe, revolving in space once in every twenty- 
four hours upon its own axis, and around its center 
and parent, the sun, in three hundred and sixty-five 
days and six hours, thus causing day and night, and 
summer and winter. 

Did the author of the book of Genesis understand 
these simple truths ? Not at all. Could the author of 
that book have been God 9 By no means. It is now 
equally well known that this world that we inhabit, 
compared with other suns and worlds without number 
that revolve in space, is very small, and of an interior 
character — a mere drop as compared with the ocean. 
It is known of these starry worlds that they belona; in 
systems, and constellations that revolve and inter-re- 
volve, coursing through the heavens, around some 
grand, far-distant centre, perpetually and forever, nev- 
er for a moment remaining in a state of rest. Did the 
person who wrote the book of Genesis have the slight- 
conception of these things, and of the magnitude, num- 
ber and immense distance of these glorious worlds on 
high, some visible but many more invisible to our 



4 THE STORY OP CREATION. 

sight ? Was he, in fact, competent to impart any trno 
information concerning them ? no ! no I 

It is well known by geologists and scientific men, 
that the earth, including the rocks and mineral ores, 
was once in a perfectly fused or molten state, and so 
must have continued for immense eras — probably 
millions of years, but in time, after the lapse of ages, 
the surface slowly cooled down and crusted over, the 
rocks becoming solid, and, by the action of water, the 
air and by other causes, slowly oxidized, triturated and 
pulverized until soil was produced. 

That the earth is still in a state of great heat is 
abundantly proved by the internal fires which pro- 
duce volcanoes— great numbers of which have existed 
and many of which still remain — as well as by the in- 
creased heat found as we descend towards the center 
of the earth ; also by the existence of numerous hot 
springs in various parts of the world, where boiling 
water rushes out in great quantities, showing, conclu- 
sively, it comes from a heated locality. Did the 
author of Genesis know anything of all this? 

As the account shows not the slightest trace of in- 
formation of this kind, is it not puerile, and even 
blasphemous, to insist that God dictated this account, 
or that he had anything to do with it? If God is the 
author of Nature and all its laws, forces and condi- 
tions, would he not be likely to understand all about 
them, and being also the author of truth, would he 
authorize a statement wholly at variance with truth 
and science? 

Sensible people must inevitably come to the con- 
clusion that the Bible account of the creation is a 
mere tissue of blunders, errors and falsehoods; and is 
wholly unworthy the credence and veneration which 



THE STORY OP CREATION. 5 

the ignorant and superstitious accord to it, and which 
is enjoined and enforced by a designing, interested 
class of men called priests, whose livelihood is se- 
cured by keeping the masses under their control, and 
by perpetuating the fallacies and absurdities of by- 
gone ages. 

The story presents inherent evidence that it was 
not the production of one person. There is not a 
unity of style, nor a unity of statement. The first 
chapter, and three verses of the second, are by one 
author, and the remainder by another. They do not 
agree, and they present discrepancies of so grave a 
character, that it seems most singular, how people of 
intelligence, in this nineteenth century, can look upon 
the narrative as the word of God, and think it should 
be accepted in preference to the teachings of sci- 
ence and truth. 

The account, in all probability, is a legend handed 
down from ages long past, and from a nationality 
much more ancient than the Jews, and by the com- 
pilers of the Bible, made up of the writings of per- 
sons known and unknown, was incorporated into the 
collection and placed at the head ; and the Christian 
world believing it to be a direct emanation from 
the Divine mind, for hundreds of years, have been re- 
garding it with a blind veneration of which it is 
wholly unworthy. 

As we observed. Genesis is the base upon which 
the whole Bible is founded. It is referred to repeat- 
edly, and endorsed by subsequent writers and author- 
ities throughout the book, including Moses, Jesus and 
Paul ; so, if the foundation gives way, all that is built 
upon it will inevitably go with it. If the base is un- 
true, the entire structure is unworthy our confidence. 



6 THE STORY OF CREATION. 

Let us briefly review the account of the " six days' 
work," in which it is said our world and all other 
worlds were made. 

The first verse in the Book says: **In the beginning^ 
God created the Tieavens and the earth. " This is ex- 
tremely vague, to say the least. When was the "be- 
ginning**? When did God begin? When did any- 
thing begin which has ever existed? According to 
the Bible, it was less than six thousand years ago — 
that in the same week in which he made the world, he 
made man. The age of this man (Adam) is given 
when he begat sons and daughters ; their ages are 
given when they begat other sons and daughters, and 
so down, giving such data that we find the entire 
time since the beginning of the existence of the 
world, of the Universe of God, is less than six thou- 
sand years. 

What person of intelligence can entertain such a 
proposition for a moment? Whatl the sun, moon, 
earth, and the countless worlds revolving in space 
less than six thousand years of age I Is God no older 
than that? Could he have been before" the begin- 
ning? "What are we to do with the assurances given 
us by geologists and scientific men, who have examin- 
ed the great volume of Nature's revelations as ex- 
hibited in the strata of rocks and the various forma- 
tions of which our earth is composed? They give us 
unimpeachable testimony that this earth of ours has 
existed many millions, and probably billions and tril 
lions of years. To go no further back than the " fused 
state," when the earth for immense eras was in a 
molten condition, it required millions of years for it 
to cool down so that water could be condensed from 
a state of vapor, and remain in fluid form upon its 



THE STORY OP CREATION. 7 

surface. Inconceivable ages were required for con- 
tinents to emerge through the oceans of water that 
surrounded the earth, and for the surface of the rocks 
thrown up, to be converted by the action of the oxy- 
gen in the air, and the trituration of the waters, into 
soil ; for exuberant vegetation to spring up and furnish 
the material for the immense deposits of coal now 
found in many parts of the globe ; and also to use up 
and utilize the excessive quantities of carbon in the 
atmosphere, thus preparing the way for the possibility 
of animal existence on the earth. 

Before this took place, the atmosphere surrounding 
the globe was so surcharged with carbonic acid ga^ 
that no animal could breathe it and live. Upon these 
deposits of coal, we find numerous strata of rocks of 
varying thickness, amounting in some cases to hun- 
dreds of feet. It required great length of time — prob- 
ably millions of years — for all these deposits to take 
place, for the lower orders of animal life to come into 
existence, one after another, before man appeared 
upon the earth ; and the remains of human beings are 
found imbedded in some of the lower formations, 
where they must have laid for many thousands of 
years, and from periods much more remote than the 
Bible dates the creation of all things. 

Owen says that the age of our planet, as indicated 
by geology, is '' a period of time so vast that the mind, 
in the endeavor to realize it, is strained by an effort 
like that by which it strives to conceive the space 
dividing the solar system from the most distant nebu- 
lae." Six thousand years, nor ten times that dura^ 
tion would, in his judgment, cover the period since 
the planet we occupy, existed. 

Dr. Buckland says: ''Many extensive plains form, 



THE STORY OF CREATIOK. 



as it were, the great charnel-house of preceding gen- 
erations, in which the petrified exuviae of extinct 
races of animals and plants are piled into stupendous 
monuments of the operations of life and death, dur- 
ing almost immeasurable periods of time. " Accord- 
ing to his views, sixty centuries is but a very small 
portion of the time that has elapsed since the world 
began. He again says : ** The truth is, that all observ- 
ers, however various may be their speculations re- 
specting the secondary causes by which geological 
phenomena gave been brought about, are now agreed 
in admitting the lapse of very long periods of time to 
have been an essential condition in the production of 
these phenomena. " 

Lyell, the distinguished geologist, thinks ''myriads 
of ages " necessary for the production of the phe- 
nomena existing in the sub-strata of our globe. 

Prof. Sedgwick says: ** During the evolution of 
countless succeeding ages mechanical and chemical laws 
seem to have undergone no change ; tribes of sentient 
beings were created and lived their time upon the 
earth." 

Prof. Hitchcock says: " The globe must have exist- 
ed during a period indefinitely long anterior to the 
creation of man. We are not aware that any practi- 
cal and thorough geologist doubts this, whatever are 
his views in respect to revelation." 

Prof. Denton says: *' No geologist pretends to speak 
of less than millions of years for the time during which 
the various formations that constitute the crust of the 
earth were deposited." 

Thus, it will be seen, we have a serious disagree- 
ment of authorities. Moses — or rather some unknown 
person, who is supposed to have written the book of 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 9 

Genesis — asserts that it is less than six thousand 
years since the beginning of the existence of any 
portion of the Universe. Now, which shall we be- 
lieve — those learned geologists who, by closely study- 
ing the unmistakable chirography of Nature's God 
read the ineffaceable truth that this earth on which 
we dwell has existed millions upon millions of 
years, or shall we take the mere legend, penned by an 
unlearned man in an ignorant age — an incongruous 
account, written by a person unknown to us, and 
though he did not claim to write by supernatural dic- 
tation, we are enjoined by an interested priesthood to 
unquestioningly believe to have been written, or at 
least dictated, by the Eternal Deity of the Universe ? 

With us there is no need for hesitation. We im- 
mensely prefer to take the real handwriting of the 
Eternal, as portrayed in the various strata of rocks 
forming the crust of our earth to the tale of any un- 
known individual, or to the legends handed down 
from any barbarous age. 

Herschell, with his immense telescope, discovered 
nebulae whose light, he calculated, must have travel- 
ed for nearly two millions of years, before it reached 
our planet. If it required that length of time for the 
light he saw to reach this earth, there can be no truth 
at all in the fable that the entire Universe was spoken 
into existence less than six thousand years ago. 

We repeat ; nothing is clearer to intelligent minds 
than the fact that what is styled the Bible account of 
creation, is totally unworthy of credit and belief, and 
that as it was written by a man totally ignorant of 
what are now known as the plainest and simplest 
facts of Nature, as the statements he made were in 
direct contradiction to the unerring truths which 



10 THE STORY OF CREATION. 

science has brought to light, the claim of ** divine 
dictation " which has been set up in reference to this 
legend or fable, must utterly fall to the ground. And 
as we remarked, the entire structure which rests upon 
this very insecure foundation must topple and fall 
with it. 

According to this account, the first day's work was 
to make light, or rather to separate it from darkness, 
calling the light day and the darkness night. Light 
was undoubtedly of the greatest consequence before 
much else could be done, and it is a natural sup- 
position that as the sun is the great source of light 
for this globe and this system, it necessarily would 
have been the first object to create, even before the 
earth. But the account says not. The earth was 
made, the wateis were made, the firmament (if any- 
body can tell what that is) which divides the waters 
above it from the waters below it, was made, the 
earth was caused to bring forth grass and herbs, 
yielding seeds, and trees yielding fruits, before there 
was any sun. Reader, is it at all probable that this 
earth existed long enough for vegetation, including 
grass, slirubs and trees to grow and perfect fruits and 
seeds, before there was any sun in existence? Could 
there be any fruits, any trees or vegetation of any 
kind without the sun? Most assuredly not. Is it at 
all likely that the sun which is the centre of a large 
number of planets, satellites and asteroids which 
revolve around it and which is much larger and more 
important than all of them put together, was not in 
existence until the earth was old enough to bring 
forth vegetation, trees and fruits? We think not. 
The ablest astronomers hold the sun really to be the 
parent of the entire solar system, and that it absolutely 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 11 

furnished the material of which the smaller bodies 
are composed. It must be admitted then, that it is a 
bungling, unreliable and most untruthful account 
which makes the sun younger than the earth and that 
says vegetation, seeds and fruit were produced with- 
out any sun. 

Another -very absurd feature in this account is the 
great disproportion between the different days' works. 
For instance one day's work consisted in saying, **Let 
there be light," and separating light from darkness 
and naming one, day, and the other, night. Another 
day was occupied in making a firmament to divide 
the waters above from those below. The third day 
was occupied in gathering the waters together and 
making the dry land appear, and in causing the 
growth of the vegetable kingdom. 

The fifth day's work was the making of fishes and 
birds. The sixth consisted in creating the animal 
kingdom that lives upon the land, including man. 
But incalculably the greatest day's work was done on 
the fourth day when the sun, moon and stars were 
made. If it occupied the Lord five days to make this 
earth and what pertains to it, we can hardly conceive 
how he could do so much in one other day as would 
be necessary to make countless millions of other 
worlds. J upiter, one of the planets in our system is 
fourteen hundred times as large as the earth, Saturn 
is more than a thousand times as large, while others 
of the planets are much larger than the earth. The 
sun is millions of times larger than the earth; and 
there are countless millions and trillions of other suns 
and worlds, vastly larger than the sun. 

It is now believed by the most learned astronomers 
that what have been called fixed stars are suns, afford^ 



12 THE STORY OP CREATION. 

ing light to other systems of planets like ours, which 
revolve around them— and that these stars or suns are 
not really fxed, but are themselves all revolving 
around a grand immense central sun, so far removed 
as to be indiscernable to us. The latest modern tele- 
scopes have brought to view immense numbers of 
these distant suns which were before totally unknown 
to the inhabitants of this globe. 

We are again impelled to exclaim, what a difference 
in days' works! If it required Deity to employ him- 
self five days to make this small world, it must neces- 
sarily have occupied him millions an*d billions of 
years to make and regulate the entire boundless Uni- 
verse! How brief is the account of the making of 
these innumerable suns and worlds. It is all com- 
prised in five words, *' He made the stars also." How 
little the writer of the book of Genesis knew of the 
immense number, size and distance of these suns and 
revolving worlds, how little he knew of the size and 
distance of our own sun, how little he knew of the 
motions of the earth and other planets which retolve 
around the sun, as well as turning upon their own 
axis. How little he knew of any of the great truths 
which unerring science has brought to our know- 
ledge. 

It would seem no sensible person could believe an 
account showing so much ignorance — such a great 
want of knowledge was ever writen, or dictated by 
Deity who is believed to be the source of all truth and 
all knowledge. Why should we continue to call it a 
perfect, divine account when it is so clearly an imper- 
fect human account ? Why should we award it a di- 
vine origin, while it nowhere claims it for itself, and^ 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 13 

nowhere shows it is in the slightest degree entitled to, 
it? 

And this is the ' 'great corner stone" upon which rests 
the fabric of the Jewish and the Christian systems of 
theology. What an imperfect foundation upon which 
to build an edifice. And this proving so faulty and im- 
perfect how sligh^. the opinion we must have of that 
which is builded upon it ! It is not strange that upon 
further examination we find the book full of faults 
and errors, and that the system of religion founded 
upon it is equally full of imperfections and falsities, 
nor can we wonder that the edifice builded upon such 
a foundation is already showing signs of decrepitude 
and decay, and is crumbling and falling to the ground. 

While we have the account of the creation under 
consideration, we will call further attention to the 
work said to have been performed by the Creator on 
the " second day, 'Ho wit : the making of the firma- 
ment. Our object in dwelling on this subject is to show 
to the candid reader that the person who wrote the 
book of Genesis, knew very little of what he was writ- 
ing about, and that he could not have been inspired 
by the architect of the Universe, who, it must be ad- 
mitted must necessarily have accurate knowledge of 
what he created. The language is : ' * And God said 
* let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, 
and let it divide the waters from the waters,* and God 
made the firmament and divided the wateis which 
were under the firmament from the waters which were 
above the firmament ; and it was so." 

This account was written by one who believed that 
the ancient Hebrew idea of the firmament was the true 
one — that it was a vast transparent arch of solid ma- 
terial, placed at a limited distance above the earth. 



14 THE STOBY OF CREATION. 



which was capable of sustaining an immense volume 
of water, which, by this firmament, was held from 
pouring down on the earth and drowning everything 
terrestrial. In this firmament, it was thought that the 
stars — minute objects, compared with the sun anl 
moon — were set, as diamonds and jewels are set in 
a ring. That above the firmament the throne of God 
was situated, and when he stamped his foot upon the 
firmament the whole heavens were shaken. That m 
this firmament were holes or windows which were 
opened more or less to let the waters through, which 
operation produced rain. When the fiood was suppos- 
ed to have taken place, these windows were opened 
widely that the waters might rush through rapidly and 
deluge the whole earth in the shortest space of time. 

It was not known then, of course, that the earth 
was a sphere, and that this firmament, in order to 
** hold water," must, necessarily, entirely surround the 
earth, and sustain a vast body of that fluid, in 
comparison to which, the bulk of the earth would be 
an insignificant atom. 

In the light of modern science, this idea of the firm- 
ament is extremely clumsy, absurd, and entire- 
ly devoid of truth. We now understand the pro- 
cess of evaporation of moisture from the surface 
of the earth ; it arises in the form of vapor and 
when it comes in contact with the colder air of the 
upper atmosphere it condenses, and in the form of rain 
and dew decends again to the earth, and this oper- 
ation is repeated thousands upon thousands of times. 
Nothing can appear more ridiculous and false than 
the idea that rain is produced by the water above 
the firmament trickling through *' gimlet holes" in 
that imaginary something, or regulated, perhaps, bv 



1 



THE STORY OP CKKATION. 15 

Btop-cocks, faucets or valves, the same being open 
and shut by the ** weathdi: clerk '* up stairs. By this 
theory no provision was made for the water upon the 
surface of the earth to ascend and get above the firm- 
ament again, and as a consequence, the water by the 
repeated addition of rains, must constantly increase 
until in time the whole earth would be covered with- 
out any chance of drainage or escape. 

If we lay aside the superstition adhering to ancient 
traditions and legends we must inevitably see that 
this entire account of 4he firmament, which the story 
says God busied himself a day in making, and in which 
he set the sun, the moon, and the countless millions of 
stars, which as we have seen, are themselves suns and 
centers of numbdi-less other systems, is in every par- 
ticular false, and worthy only of an ignorant, barbar- 
rous age, before science had taught the world the sim- 
plest truths of nature. 

We object not to the story as a legend of olden time. 
In that view we willingly accord it all the veneration 
due it, the same as we would to any similar fable of 
ancient times, but when we are required to accept it 
as the word of God, or a revelation from Deity — to- 
gether with the thousands of other absurdities and 
falsehoods with whicli the book abounds — we most 
respecfully and decidedly object. We cannot possi- 
bly throw away reason, science and common sense, 
and substitute in their place such a tissue of clumsy 
absurdities and impossibilities, as priests and bible 
devotees demand of us. 

It is indeed most singular how people of average 
intelligence can so easily believe the idle fables, and 
groundless stories which have been handed down 
from the dark ages of the past, when there is no proof 



16 THE STORY OF CREATION. 



n 



to sustain them, and not the slightest possibility of 
their being true. Why should men take unquestion- 
ed, as the infallible dicta of, the Almighty, that which 
is only tb^ imperfect and Untrue narrative of an un- 
known man belonging to an age of great ignorance in 
the long ago? Why should they discard and set 
aside the unerring teachings of science as unworthy 
of confidence and belief, and hug to their bosoms the 
shadows, the fallacies, the absurdities and chimeras 
of an age of darkness, superstition and error? 

Why, we repeat, should it be believed that Moses 
was the author of the book of Genesis, when it is 
no where asserted that such is the base, neither in 
that book nor any other in the Bible that succeeds it 
— while he neither asserts it himself, nor any other 
bible writer asserts it for him, and while it narrates 
events that occurred at least two hundred and fifty 
years after his death? Is it simply because some 
Jewish priest or some Romish priest assumed it was 
the case, and so asserting, we feel bound to accede to 
it and believe it? 

It matters very little to us whether the booJc was 
written by Moses or some other person, but this much 
we cannot fail to understand, that it could not possi- 
bly have been dictated by Deity, for it contains errors 
and absurdities too gross for him to be the author of. 
God we must believe to be the source and origin of 
truth, and that from him error and falsehood cannot 
emanate. 

Why does the Christian world adhere so tenacious- 
ly to the belief that the Bible is the word of God? Is 
it because it is older than all other books, or that it is 
purer, better or more moral? Is it because the wri- 
ers of it are better known than those of other books, 



THE STORY OP CBEATIOK. 17 

or that the nations which have acknowledged it as 
divine have been more peaceful, inoffensive and 
heavenly than other nations of the earth? No, it is 
for none of these reasons. 

The Bible is not so old as th6 P3rmander of Egypt, 
the Shaster of Persia, the sacred writings of the 
*' Celestial Empire," and the Yedas of India. It con- 
tains no better morals than those works— no higher 
proofs of divinity ; but on the other hand, more that 
is obscene, vulgar, and immoral — more that is blood- 
thirsty, cruel and warlike, than either of the books 
mentioned. Its writers are no better known, and its 
truths no better authenticated. The nations which 
have claimed it as the Word of God, have been as 
distinguished for wars, bloodshed, brigandage and 
robbery ; have been as deficient in the high qualities 
called "virtues," as any nations in the world's his- 
tory. 

It is held to be the '* Word of God" because Jew- 
ish, Romish and Protestant priests have so taught the 
people. They have made it an engine of power and 
rule over the masses, and with which to compel the 
payment of tithes and exactions for their own benefit. 
It has, for centuries, been held as a terror over the 
trembling, ignorant souls, who have not had the free- 
dom and independence to think and judge for them- 
selves. 

But the world is progressing, priestcraft is gradual- 
ly losing its power, and with the advance of science, 
reason and truth, blind faith in a written and printed 
** Word of God " will pass away, and men will look 
for truth and knowledge to the unerring and change- 
less volume of Nature, which requires neither priests 
nor translators to explain and expound, and which 



18 THE STORY OF CREATION. 



can be equally understood by all tongues and peoples 
As mankind become enlightened as to the true 
Deity which exists in Nature and Science, the more 
they study the great and true volume which that 
Deity has spread out for all to examine and admire, 
the less they will be led and controlled by priests ; and 
the veneration they have long entertained for the 
myths and the superstitions of the past, will gradually 
fade away. 

We call attention for a few moments to the account 
in Genesis of thf creation of man, to see if w^e can 
find it to be a reasonable, truthful account. It seems 
this creation was a part of the sixth or last day's 
work. As every living creature of the earth, cattle, 
creeping things and beasts, were made in the fore 
part of this day, before man was undertaken, we may 
well suppose it got to be along well towards evening 
before God said, [* Let us make man.'' There seems 
to be a slight discrepancy in the narrative. The first 
chapter with the first three verses of the second chap- 
ter, purport to give a comprehensive account of the 
creation of the entire Universe ; the suns, starry orbs, 
the earth, including vegetation, animals and man. In 
the 27th verse it says, Ood created man in Ms own 
image ; in the image of Qod created he him ; male and 
female created he them. We are left to suppose by 
this, that man and woman were created at the same 
time and in the same manner, the original plan being 
to have male, and female of the human species the 
same as in all other varities of animal life. We are 
not told here of what material God formed man and 
woman : but in the next chapter, which is evidently 
the production of another individual, we have a very 
different account. There we are told '' The Lord God 



n 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 19 

(in the first chapter it had been God only) formed man 
of the dust of the ground, and hreatfted into his nostrils 
the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. " 

As man has lungs similar to other animals, and 
breathes the same air, it is natural to suppose his 
breathing apparatus was gotten up in a similar way 
to theirs; but according to this account, the process 
was different, for we are told nothing about the Lord 
God breathing into the nostrils of horses, cattle, hogs, 
sheep, dogs, cats, toads, frogs, snakes, and the entire 
list of animated life; and notwithstanding this, they 
have continued to breathe from that day to this and 
just as efficiently as the human race. 

By the second chapter it seems God originally de- 
signed man to be of the masculine gender only, for 
that is the way he made him; and he remained this 
way for some time, long enough, at least, for God to 
plant a garden in the Eastern part of Eden, and cause 
trees and plants to grow bearing fruit to eat and to 
look upon, after which the Lord God placed man in 
this garden to dress and keep it. Then, it seems, 
the Lord God formed out of the ground every beast of the 
field and every foiol of the air, and brought them unto 
Adam to see what he would call them ; and whatsoever 
Adam called every living creature, that was the name 
thereof According to this story in the second chap- 
ter, Adam was made before any of the beasts of the 
field or fowls of the air, for we have just seen the 
Lord God formed them out of the ground and 
brought them to Adam as he made them, to be 
named. According to the first chapter, these were all 
made before Adam was commenced, and he was the 
lasf work performed on the last day. Query : Which 
account is the real word of God? And if he wrote 



20 THE STORY OP CREATION. 

both accounts how came he to write them so differ- 
ently? 

Well, after all these animals and birds were made male 
and female, and plants and trees were made, (possess- 
ing also the male and female elements) it seems to 
have been discovered that Adam had no mate and 
that it was not good for him to be alone ; and as a 
sort of after-thought, the Lord God concluded to 
make a woman that Adam might have company. 

The account says Adam was formed of the dust of 
the ground. This material was doubtless as plenty 
and as handy as anything, but we submit it, that the 
account is not true. While human bodies possess a 
certain portion of earthy matter, it really forms but a 
small percentage of their organization. Man is com- 
posed of many primitive elements known in chemis- 
try, among which may be named oxygen, hydrogen, 
nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, lime and several other 
elements in smaller proportion, most of which are 
not earth at all, nor usually found in the form of 
"dust." The proportion of absolute earth in the hu- 
man body is but a few ounces, and amounts to less 
than two per cent, of the whole matter. The great 
bulk is made of the gases just named, in a combined 
state ; but when this account was written hothing was 
known about oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nor any of 
the elements the science of chemistry has brought to 
light, and if God did not understand anytning about 
this, or the science of chemistry, we ought not, per- 
haps, be too critical about it. 

When, however, it was thus discovered that it was 
not good for Adam to be alone and it was decided to 
<jreate a woman for him, though there was doubtless 
plenty of the material left of which Adam was com- 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 21 

posed, the Lord God saw fit to take another material 
and another process. He put Adam into a deep 
sleep, whether by ether, chloroform, or opium, we 
are not told, when he performed a very difficult sur- 
gical operation and took out one of his ribs, without 
doing the man the slightest injury, and of this rib he 
formed a woman. 

Wishing, of course, to treat this subject with all due 
reverence and seriousnees, we are nevertheless con- 
strained to remark that it seems to us that a rib bone 
would not be first-rate material out of which to form 
a woman. How the rosy cheeks, the brilliant eyes, 
the glossy hair, the rounded, symmetrical limbs, the 
swelling, palpitating bosom, together with all the 
* 'little variations " and et ceteras of which a certain 
good deacon had so high an appreciation, could be 
modulated from a piece of dry bone, weighing three or 
four ounces, has always been a mystery to us. Bone 
is composed principally of lime, with some carbon 
and a small percentage of phosphorous. From these 
materials how could it be possible to convert all the 
hj^drogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc., etc., which neces- 
sarily enter into the body of a woman, say, one hun- 
dred and twenty -five pounds, the writers of the book 
of Genesis have given us no clue. Woman's body 
contains very many elements non-existent in rib-bones 
and let us ask right here, if this story of the forma- 
tion of Eve is truth, where did they come from? 

If God found it necessary in order to obtain a fe- 
male of the human species, to cut man open and take 
out one of his ribs, why did he not, in order to ob- 
tain females of all the many species of animated life 
have to pursue the same course ? If a rib-bone was 
the proper thing out of which to formulate a woman, 



22 ' THE STORY OP CREATION. 

why did lie not also use rib -bones from which to form 
cows, ewes, does, mares, jennies, sows, sluts, tigresses, 
lionesses, she-bears, female camels, elephants, rhi- 
noceroses, etc., etc.? If a rib-bone is the natural 
and necessary source of femininity, could the rule be 
departed from in any case ? Is it at all probable the 
female element exists more especially in a rib-bone 
than in other forms of matter ? Does not the whole 
Universe possess the quality of femininity to as great 
an extent as masculinity, and is not one just as old a? 
the other ? Are not both principles as old as the Uni- 
verse itself, which is without beginning or end ? 

In view of the utter absurdity of the Bible story 0/ 
creation, having all been accomplished in the space of 
six days, or one hundred and forty -four hours, the 
apologists in modern times have attempted to evade 
the absurdity of the legend by setting up the claim 
that the word *' day '' does not mean a daj^ of twenty- 
four hours, but an indefinite epoch, period or age in 
which certain progressions of the Universe success- 
ively passed. This is done for the purpose- of making 
the Bible harmonize with positive truths of advanc- 
ing science. The great Scotch geologist, Hugh Mil- 
ler, who, though decidedly a scientific man, still in- 
dulged a great veneration for the old superstitions, 
bent his energies in this special direction; but Tie was 
not successful. There were such discrepancies be- 
tween legend and science, that he was unable to rec" 
oncile them, and the troubled state of mind which 
finally drove the poor man to suicide, doubtless had a 
close connection with this perplexing inexplicability. 

Were it possible that a day meant an incalculable 
number of years, it would follow that the seventh day 
is still in its early hours, as six thousand years is 



THE STORY OF CREATION. 23 

known to b^ hut a small fraction of the time that 
must have constituted on^ of the days of creation. 
And the difficulty does not end here ; the order of the 
Bible accounts, as regards the precedence which cer- 
tain forms of life have over others, is in positive con- 
tradiction to the truths which science has revealed. 
For instance, the Bible says of the work of the fifth 
day, '*Let the waters bring forth abundantly the 
moving creatures that have life, and fowl that may 
fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." 
Of the work of the sixth day, it says: "Let th^ 
earth bring forth the living creatures after his kind, 
cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, 
after his kind. " Thus, according to this pseudo-di- 
vine account, birds and fowls of the air were brought 
into existence before reptiles, and the crawling and 
creeping things of the earth. Nothing could be fur- 
ther from the truth. Science has positively establish 
ed the fact that reptiles, including snakes, lizards, 
toads, worms and the numerous creeping and crawl 
ing things, existed immense eras before the feathered 
tribe. This is definitely established beyond all con- 
troversy, by the fossils that are found iiS the early 
formations. No true scientist now harbors a doubt 
that the reptiles inhabited the earth thousands of 
years before the advent of fowls and birds, and these 
were thousands of years later succeeded by mam- 
mals and quadrupeds. 

It has doubtless been suspected by some of our 
readers that we are slightly skeptical on some points. 
Well we are ; and we cannot help it. We cannot be- 
lieve this Bible tale, nor do we want to. It exhibits 
too much ignorance, contradiction and absurdity to 
convince us that it is a revelation from the God of 



24 "t"^ THE STORY OF CREATION. 

the Universe, and was given for the enlightenment of 
thinking, rational beings. It is vastly easier for us to 
think there has been some mistake about this being 
the "word of God"; that it was written by some 
person or persons who were not gods, but merely 
men, and with very rude and limited information at 
that. 

For our use, the investigations and researches of 
Professors Lyell, Hitchcock, Dana, Denton and other 
eminent geologists, relative to the great age and an- 
tiquity of the earth— the philosophies and discoveries 
of Darwin, Spencer and other scientists, as to the or- 
igin, development and evolution of the different 
forms of animal and human life are so much more 
rational, scientific, sensible and truthful than this 
clumsy, slip-shod, irregular, impossible Bible story, 
that we greatly prefer them. They convince our rea- 
son of their superiority and truthfulness, and we are 
bound to accept their teachings. 

Christians tells us this Bible narrative of the crea- 
tion, on which their system of religion is founded is 

positively and absolutely the word of God and that if 
we do not believe it we must burn in hell forever, 
though they present us not the slightest proof either 
positive or circumstantial that this story was written 
by God or that he had anything to do with it. If we 
have to burn for not believing it, why, hum it is; for 
believe it we cannot. 

We doubt, however, their tales and threats about 
the burning, as much as we do the story itself. We 
cannot think God will ever doom a being to eternal 
torment for not believing that which it is impossible 
for him to believe. It is our opinion also, that those 
Christians know as much as to what God will do in the 
future, as they know as to what he has done in the 
past, and that is just nothing at all. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 8.] 



THE SNAKE STORY. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



We ^ome now to the account of man being placed 
in the garden of Eden ; of the temptation set before 
him by his maker; of his ''fall," and the consequent 
damnation of the human race. 

In reference to this narrative, a learned Catholic 
clergyman of Chicago, called ''Father" Terry, re- 
cently, in a sermon, termed the whole story an " epic 
poem " and that it simply is a " fiction. " This is pre- 
cisely our opinion of the matter, and we propose to 
express our views of it with quite as much freedom 
as Father T. did, even should the results prove equal- 
ly unfortunate to us. For uttering his honest senti- 
ments, his superior, Biehop Foley, deposed him and 
took away his official character. As, however, neither 
Bishop Foley, the Cardinal, the Pope, the "council," 
the " presbytery," nor the " synod " hold any author- 
ity over us, we will utter our opinions without fear of 
their vindictiveness. 

The story has truly much the semblance of a fable, 



a THE SNAKE STORY. 

and a fable, too, .vhicli reflects no great credit upon 
the plans, prescience and benevolence of the Creator. 
If God, from the remotest ages of eternity, had re- 
volved in his mind the premeditated creation of the 
Universe, the earth and man — as it would seem he 
must have had abundant leisure to do, millions of 
times over — and if, after making man and woman 
perfect beings, and pronouncing them ''good," he 
created a temptation — a snare, calculated to seduce 
them and lead them to destruction ; and not themselves 
only, but countless billions of their descendants; if 
he also created a Devil for the express purpose of aid- 
ing him in placing this decoy before our innocent 
parents, thus luring them and their posterity forever 
to utmost wretchedness and misery, it would argue 
that he was either a very bad Creator, or that he was 
unable to circumvent the machinations of his wily 
creature and adversary, and thus prevent the total de- 
struction of his favorite enterprise. Possibly, when 
God made the Devil, he did not intend quite so for- 
midable an antagonist — one able to defeat all his 
plans, destroy his creation, and inaugurate a hell upon 
the earth. 

There must either have been a serious defect in the 
plan, or in the power to execute it. God either did 
not correctly anticipate the difBculties he had to con- 
tend with, or it was his express purpose to make an 
innocent pair of human beings, and also to make and 
empower a Devil to tempt and beguile those innocents 
to commit the enormous crime of eating an apple, 
which *' caused sin and all our woe." If God wanted 
man to be happy, why did he create the conditions 
that must inevitably make him unhappy ? If he did 
not want man to eat the apple, why did he make it. 



II 



THE SNAKE STORY. 3 

and place it before liim ? If he wished man to re- 
main innocent and pure, why did lie make a Devil to 
render him otherwise ? Did he not know the result 
of his enterprise before he commenced it, and that 
the greatest evil must result from it ? To deny this, 
is to confess him finite, short-sighted and weak, and 
to admit it makes him a monster. 

Upon this absurd fable rests the whole Christian 
structure, — God made man perfect, and placed a 
t^ptation before him, sure to ruin him, and created 
a Devil also, to aid in seducing his victim into the trap 
set for him, and in consequence it became necessary 
for God to come down out of heaven, four thousand 
years afterwards, cohabit with a young woman, then 
to be born of that woman, and after thirty years to be 
put to death, and all this to appease his own anger, 
and to remove, in a very limij;ed degree, the effects of 
the apple — all of which, with suitable precaution, 
might have been avoided. To an unprejudiced mind, 
the whole story appears most ridiculous, belittling 
God, and making him very deficient in knowledge, 
goodness and power. 

Of the nature of the ''tree of knowledge," which 
bore the fruit that cursed the world, nothing whatever 
is known. No description of the tree has ever been 
given ; no naturalist or botanisf "has ever seen it, and 
whether it was like oner of our apple trees, no one can 
tell. As the fruit of it produced an effect so unlike that 
of all other fruit the world has known, we must con- 
clude the tree was totally unlike any other tree that 
ever grew. Why that variety of fruit has not been 
perpetuated as other varieties have been, cannot be 
told. Fruit from the tree of knowledge, which would 
cause mankind to know the nature of good and evil, 



4 THE SNAKE STORY. 

and make tliem as gods, it would seem, ought to have 
been perpetuated and largely cultivated. It may be 
urged that this particular kind of fruit was created 
for the express purpose of ruining mankind, and when 
this purpose was accomplished, was removed from 
the earth. 

There exists considerable diversity of opinion as to 
the character of this fruit among different Bible be- 
lievers. The greatest number profess to believe it was 
a literal apple like our Pippins and Spitzenbergs, whil£ 
one sect (the Shakers) insist that the forbidden fruu 
was the untimely intercourse of the sexes, and that 
all the sin and crime the world has since known, came 
from that source, and consequently it has ever since 
been w^ong for man and woman to have sexual inter- 
course. The number, however, who entertain this 
peculiar view of the forbidden fruit is very small in- 
deed ; by far the larger number believe in a literal tree 
and literal fruit. Kone, however, know anything 
about it ; the several opinions have but little value, 
and it will not compensate us to spend much timein 
examining them. Of one thing we do feel assured, 
that it is a pity that so many millions of human 
beings will greedily swallow such silly stories, and 
base their hopes of happiness here and hereafter upon 
them. 

The entire story of the fall is improbable and un- 
tenable. Instead of man being created in a high 
state of perfection, and falling to the lowest degrada- 
tion, the truth is directly the reverse ; his beginning 
was low down in the scale, slightly above the brute 
creation, and after thousands of years he gradually 
advanced until he became enlightened. Nearly all 
modern scientists agree upon this point, that man 



THE SNAKE STORY. 5 

once occupied a plane in existence much lowei than 
he does to-day, and that he has gradually been pro- 
gressing. In short, he did not **/aK," but arose, and 
that his nature is eternal progression. 

Much proof exists proving the truth of this position. 
Remains of human beings who lived on the earth in 
former eras Lave been found imbedded in rock, 
where they have lain more than forty thousand years. 
From the indications given, this race of human beings 
was much lower down in the scale of existence than 
the present hijman race. They lived in caves, and 
more like brutes than men, but were doubtless the 
progenitors of the present inhabitants of the globe, 
who have been gradually advancing in intelligence 
and culture. 

There are, even now, in Australia, New Caledonia, 
and parts of South Africa, races of human beings 
who have not yet advanced out of the rudimental 
conditions. Some of them live in trees, leaping from 
branch to branch, like apes and baboons. They wan- 
der about, entirely naked in most cases, having no 
fixed homes or tribal property, no families or mar- 
riage relations. Their language is extremely imper- 
fect and rudimental. They grow to be about four 
feet high, and come to maturity in twelve to fifteen 
years. It is with great diflSculty they can be taught 
principles and ideas, their brains being imperfectly de- 
veloped. 

These are, doubtless, unadvanced races that have 
remained in their primitive, low, ignorant state, 
while the more progressive races which people the 
earth have completely outstripped them. 

In view of the many facts in Nature, brought to 
light by the researches and labors of scientists, which 



6 THE SNAKE STORY. 

pointedly and totally contradict the Bible story of 
man's being made in a high state of perfection, from 
which he fell and became hopelessly degraded, it 
seems most strange how sensible people can still ad- 
here to the system, founded upon the delusions of 
past ages of ignorance. 

We will return to the Bible story. As the snake 
figures extensively in this wonderful narrative, we 
must not entirely disregard him. Without the part 
of the serpent, the drama would be nciost defective. 
For it seems God created this snake with powers and 
abilities to thwart his own designs and purposes. 
We are not told to what variety of the snake tribe 
this particular one belonged, whether boa- constrictor, 
anaconda, black snake, rattlesnake or moccasin, but 
we are, at all events, required to believe it had the 
organs of human speech, and could converse fluently 
with our great-grandmother. 

^sop, in his fables, by way of enforcing a moral 
lesson, gave speech to many varieties of animals, 
as lions, dogs, sheep, wolves, foxes, birds, etc., but 
we do not remember that he made snakes to talk, nor 
did he intend we should believe any of his animals 
really used human language; but in this Bible fable, 
we are required to positively believe in the conversa- 
tional powers of the snake. Although we know no 
speech can take place without the organs of speech, 
and that no snake was ever known to possess these 
organs, we are not permitted to doubt that this par- 
ticular snake was a most efficient talker ; conversing 
with such suavity and persuasiveness that he com- 
pletely wheedled our good old mother, and thereby 
circumvented God in a most remarkable manner. 



THE SNAKE STORY*. 7 

Very probable, is it not, tliat a snake should circum- 
vent and out-general God Almighty ? 

For thus using human language, and in* 'taking 
in '* our maternal relative (and really we cannot under- 
stand what else he was made for), his snakeship seems 
to have been doomed to severe punishment; he was 
sentenced to crawl upon his belly and to eat dust all 
the days of his life. Whether, before this, he walked 
upright like a man, and ate apples, we are not in- 
formed; but we are led to believe he has ever crawled 
over the surface of the ground upon his belly, the 
same five, ten, and twenty thousand years ago as now. 
We cannot think the nature of the snake's Iocouk)- 
tion has ever been changed, nor his diet. If he was 
condemned to eat dust, he has not done it. No one 
has ever seen snakes eating dust. They require ani- 
mal food and insist upon having it alive. They are 
partial to eggs, chickens, frogs, etc., but never obey 
the injunction to *'eat dust." 

It is marvelous how easy thousands of people be- 
lieve this Bible snake story. Is it really so probable 
that it should be swallowed without hesitation? Is it 
likely a snake became the antagonist of the Creator 
of the Universe, and proved himself completely the 
victor in the contest? Can it be possible sensible 
people will ever continue to believe such simple tales 
and think them the word of God because they are in 
the Bible? Such'^ must place a low estimate indeed, 
upon their God to believe a snake could defeat him! 

We think it entirely reasonable to decide with 
Father Terry, that the whole story is a fiction, gotten 
up by an unskillful person, and by men incorporated 
into their Bible, a book written, revised, amended, 
compiled, translated and printed by men, and in 



8 THE SNAKE STORY. 

which we can see no proofs of the workmanship of a 
God. 

This fable has heretofore been preached as literal 
truth, and to be taken just as it reads, but modern 
clergymen and modern Christians, finding the whole 
story perfectly absurd, often claim it is not intended 
to be understood literally — that the forbidden fruit 
was not really an apple, nor the Devil a real snake. 
It, however, matters but little, so far as the principle 
is concerned. If God made man, and made the 
temptation, and made the Devil, and if he knew be- 
forehand the necessary result of the conditions, it is 
just as much a monstrosity in the form of an allegory 
as if literally true. Besides, there is no authority for 
saying this story is not to be taken literally just as 
much as any part of the Bible. Who is authorized to 
say certain parts are to be taken literally, and certain 
other parts to be '' spiritualized?'' If the book is the 
" word of God," why did he not write it as he wished 
it understood? 

It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant 
when intelligent persons will cease to look to idle, 
silly tales as the word of God, but rather turn their 
attention to the study of unerring science, where a 
foundation of truth can be found safe to build upon. 

The tales about talking snakes conversing with 
the human race ; about a fruit possessing the power to 
damn the inhabitants of an entire world ; about the 
snake persuading the woman to partake of this fruit, 
the maker of all things remaining in the back-ground 
without preventing his deadly foe from defeating his 
great experiment, when he must have known what 
was going on at the very moment it was transpiring; 
that in consequence of sin and death thus entering 



THE SNAKK STORY. 51 

the world and causing eternal enmity between liim 
and his creatures, which it was impossible for him to 
remove without coming down from heaven four thou- 
sand years afterwards, and going through the process 
of cohabiting with a woman, and then afterwards being 
born of that woman, as we observed — and to grow up 
through puling infancy, childhood and youth, to man- 
hood and then after wandering about over Judea, 
Galilee, and adjacent countries, a year or two, attend- 
ed by ignorant fishermen and others, he found it nec- 
essary to be put to death that his own wrath might 
be so far appeased as to render it possible that a mi- 
nute "portion of the human family could escape the 
torments of hell, if they only believe in the efficacy of 
this sublime plan, and all the dogmas propounded to 
them by priests ; such tales, we say, are fit only to 
be believed by small children and simple-minded 
people. 

What a snake that must have been, to thus 
wholly defeat the Creator of the Universe, and, with 
an apple or two, entirely circumvent the wise plans 
and beneficent intentions of an all-wise and all-power- 
ful God! It has been a question for ages, why God 
should have created a snake, a devil, or dragon capa- 
ble of such great and irreparable injury to the crea- 
tures of his forming. Beautiful system, is it not? So 
full of loveliness, consistency and probability, that 
not a particle of either can be discerned in the entire 
scheme. And this jargon, this senseless muddle, is 
what theologians have to offer the world as " the 
grand, sublime and God-like plan of salvation !" 

But, however abhorrent it may be to our every 
sense of beauty, justice and of Deity, we have to accept 
it according to their dictation and swear it is lovely — 



10 THE SNAKE STORY. 

it is glorious, and it is true, or suffer the torments of 
the damned in hell forever! It is most fortunate, 
however, for the human family, that these theologians 
have not the destiny of mankind at their disposal; 
that these absurd dogmas and blind creeds are, all 
wrong, and that knowledge, wisdom, happiness and 
truth do not lie in the direction in which they point. 



We will take a brief glance at some of the events 
mentioned in the Bible between the time when Adam 
and Eve were said to Ijave been turned out of the 
garden of Eden and the deluge. They are given in a 
desultory, imperfect manner, and not as we might 
imagine a God would write them; but, as we are 
looking into the credibility, and divine authorship of 
the story, we will not pass them unnoticed. 

After man and woman had partaken of the fruit of 
the tree of knowledge which grew in the garden God 
had planted, by which their eyes were opened and 
they understood the nature of good and evil, God, it 
seems, became very much incensed at it. To an or- 
dinary perception this would appear an insufficient 
reason for his anger. If the fruit was good — from a 
divine source — if the effect was to impart knowledge 
and cause the recipient to know more of what was 
useful, it would seem it ought to be a good thing to 
eat, and that man could not fall very far by partaking 
of it. But, according to the story, God was very 
angry and cursed them both roundly — the woman 
with the pains of maternity (which, by-the-by, all 
species of animals have to endure) and the man to 
toil and labor — which has really been a great blessing 
to the race instead of a curse — and he also cursed the 
ground for his sake and caused thorns and thistles to 



THE SNAKE STORY. 11 

grow to trouble and annoy him. He was so incensed 
because the pair had partaken of the fruit of knowl- 
edge — becoming like gods — and was so apprehensive 
that man would reach forth his hand and also take of 
the tree of life and live forever, that he drove him 
out of the garden, and placed cherubim with ** flam- 
ing swords which turned every way. " What kind of 
a sword could that have been, to keep him from 
coming to the tree of life? Is it not a little singular 
that a good Deity should wish to keep man in igno- 
rance, and prevent him also from havinsj access to the 
tree of life and living forever? Would not the Devil 
have done better by us than that? Did he not try to 
prevent such a sad result? Did not the Devil, or the 
snake, by inducing Mother Eve to taste of the fruit of 
knowledge, take the very means to cause the human 
race to come in possession of information, intelligence 
and knowledge like unto the gods ? Could he have 
had his way, would he not also have kept the tree 
of life within their reach so they could have lived 
forever? According to this tale, was not the Devil 
decidedly the best friend to the race of the two? 

It seems God relented a little towards our unf ortu 
nate first parents and made them coats of skin, and 
clothed them, before he sent them out to seek their 
fortunes. Rather crude ideas, those of the Deity 
which presides over the Universe, to engage in the 
manufacture of clothing from the skins of animals ! 
The Devil would probably have taught them how to 
do it themselves. 

But Adam, it seems, "knew his wife," and they 
raised Cain and Abel. The one tilled the ground and 
the other raised sheep, and they both together brought 



13 THE SNAKE STORY. 

offerings to the Lord, who accepted the last but not 
the first. 

It would seem to us just and fair, or good policy, at 
.any rate, that both should have been accepted, and 
thus have prevented a foul, fraternal homicide. God, 
however, repaired this omission by cursing Cain, put- 
ting a mark on him and driving him from the face of 
the earth, where every man's hand should be against 
him, (what man was there at that time except his 
father, Adam ?) and he went out from the presence of 
the Lord (how is that possible when he is every- 
where ?) unto the land of Nod, and took a wife, and 
built a city. It has been a question how Cain could 
have found a wife, when there was no woman in the 
world save his mother; and our good divines have 
failed to answer it satisfactorily. They merely enjoin 
it upon us, that we must believe it, because God 
wrote it. 

Marrying and begetting children seemed after this 
to go on merrily and rapidly, and the sons of God, too, 
saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and 
took them for wives, and giants were the result. We 
must believe, of course, that God had sons, unlike 
the human race, and that they cohabited with the 
daughters of men, for it is in the Bible. Who those 
sons of God were, and where they came from, the ac- 
count does not state. It is to be presumed, however, 
that they came down from heaven and were angels. 

From the remark that God is said to have made, 
''Behold, the man is become as one of us,'' as well 
as by the previous words of the Devil, '* Ye shall be- 
come as gods'' together with there being so many sons 
of gods who cohabited with the daughters of men, 
ife are led to suppose that, at that-time, the gods were 



THE SNAKE STORY. 13 

pretty numerous, or at least that there were more than 
one. The monotheistic idea, which Moses afterwards 
learned from the Egyptians, had not then been adopt- 
ed, and the belief in a multiplicity of gods, which 
was the early belief of all the races of men, seems to 
have been the one entertained. 

We must believe also, that men lived then to be 
nine hundred years old and over, and this, less than six 
thousand years ago, and upon no evidence save the 
simple statement in Genesis. Geologists find remains 
of the human race imbedded in the rocks and caves, 
which they estimate must have existed upon the earth 
from fifty to seventy -five thousand years ago, but they 
find na evidence of such immense longevity, nor does 
Nature anywhere give such evidence. All animated 
existence is limited to a period vastly shorter than a 
thousand years, and it is probable it always was so. 
As the narrative was written many hundreds of years 
after the events were said to have occurred, and by 
one who could have no positive information upon the 
subject, it is very easy to imagine how these state- 
ments could have been wrongfully made, and a fabu- 
lous character given them. The matter of giants 
alluded to is also without authenticity. Men have 
occasionally attained a size above the average, but the 
proofs of a race of giants have never been found. 

The affair of Enoch being transferred to heaven 
bodily, and which is so indefinitely alluded to in the 
story, is imagination altogether. The expression that 
he ''walked with God and was not, for God took 
him," is hardly sufficient data, for us to believe that he 
was taken bodily up into heaven. We now know that 
the upper atmosphere is so rarified that a liuman be- 
ing removed to a distance of ten miles, only, from the 



14 THE SNAKE STORY. 

^\ surface of the earth, would perish almost instantly.' 
At an altitude of about five miles, reached by bal- 
loons and by climbing high mountains, it has been 
found impossible to exist, except by inhaling oxygen 
taken along for the purpose, and the rarefication of 
the atmosphere at that height, even, is so great that 
blood-vessels have burst and life been seriously endan- 
gered. Animal life cannot be sustained except near 
the surface of the earth. 

It seems by the story that wickedness became very 
great upon the earth; that God saw it and became 
very much grieved and angered about it — so much so 
that he repented of what he had done, that he had 
made man or any par4; of animated existence. It griev- 
ed him to the heart that he had placed man upon the 
earth, and he resolved to destroy all animal life he 
had formed, not wicked men only, but also the beasts 
of the field and every creeping thing, and even the 
fowls of the air, which neither had fallen nor com- 
mitted any wickedness. 

It is a sad representation indeed, which is here given 
of the great God of the Universe, that he should re- 
gret what he had done — that he should repent of his 
actions and moodily sink into a state of despondency. 
It is also a sad picture of divine justice that he should 
destroy beasts, birds and reptiles without number, for 
the wrongs man had done. Is it really justice to de- 
stroy the innocent for the sins of the wicked? Ac- 
cording to the story, however, the innocent were 
doomed to suffer for the guilty, and the same cruel 
sentence was passed upon all, and that, too, has been 
what has constituted "divine justice" ever since. 
The innocent have constantly been suffering for the 
guilty, and his own innocent son seems to have been 
brought into existence for the express purpose of suf- 
fering for the guilty. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 9.j 



The Story of the Flood. 



BY D. M. BENKETT. 



We are so often told by Bible defenders and wor- 
shipers, that that book contains ** inherent evidence 
of its divinity," it is proper for us to continue our 
investigations and see if we can discover these inher- 
ent evidences that it was written by the hand of God. 
If he wrote it, it contains nought but truth and excel- 
lence; for he is all triath and perfection, and if we 
find error or falsehood, it is proof positive he had 
nothing to do with it. 

We will at this time make a few brief observations 
upon the Bible account of the flood, and see how they 
compare with reason, science and truth. 

The deluge is one of the great events in Bible his- 
tory, and fills an im.portant part in the story upon 
which the Jewish and Christian religions are founded. 
It may be said, almost, to be the corner-stone of the 
structure, and if this is removed, the whole building 
inevitably falls. 

It seems it was but a few generations after the 



2 THE STORY OP THE FLOO». 

creation, when everything was pronounced good and 
satisfactory, before the creatures God had made, 
had become so wicked that his patience with them 
was completely exhausted, and he regretted very 
much that he had made man. We are told in other 
places, that God is unchangeable— that he repenteth 
not, and is *Hhe same yesterday, to-day and forever," 
but as it says ii this place ^^it repented the Lord that he 
had made man on the earthy and it grieved him at his 
h^eart,^^ we are bound to suppose it was so, and though 
he was the architect of the entire Universe, and had 
the power to know every event that would occur in 
all future times, we are at the same time required to 
think he was so weak-minded as to get discouraged 
and be sorry for what he had done, and to come to 
the determination to destroy not only the human race, 
but the entire animal creation, quadrupeds, reptiles, 
birds, insects and all, which we have no reason to 
suppose had been at all guilty of the wickedness of 
man. It seems hard that a merciful and just God 
should put millions upon millions of innocent beings 
to death, for the crimes others had committed. Can 
it be that God would be 2;uilty of such conduct ? The 
book says so, and those who feel constrained to be- 
lieve a part, have to believe this portion also. It would 
seem a Deity *'with power equal to his will," could 
have hit upon some plan of killing off the w^icked 
inhabitants of the earth, if he wished to do so, in a 
more easy and expeditious manner — ^^and in the space 
of a few days or hours, without subjecting myriads of 
harmless animals to the same cruel fate. To view it 
in the best possible light, it was a tedious, indirect 
mode by which to get rid of the sinful men and wom- 
en on earth, to drown it out, and all in it, except 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. R 

what could take passage on a single boat ; requiring 
a whole year to embark, and to await the rising and 
falling of the waters. On other occasions it seems 
God has smitten to death in one night or one hour j. 
thousands of his children with very little apparent 
effort, and one would think he could have done it just 
as well on this occasion, by plague, pestilence or some 
other merciful touch of his hand, without resorting to 
the slow, troublesome process, of creating or produc- 
ing such an immense volume of water, necessary to 
drown out the whole earth and cover it to the tops of 
the highest mountains and leave the innocent portion, 
of his creation uninjured. But we have to suppose 
this plan did not suit him at that time, and that noth 
ing but drowning the world — the men, women and. 
children ; the horses, cows, sheep, dogs, cats, rats 
and mice, hens, turkeys, doves, sparrows, linnets, and 
thousands of other species of animal existences, 
would answer his purpose. 

After coming to the cruel decision to take this mer- 
ciless course, it seems he had interviews with old man. 
Noa'i, (who had lived to be six hundred years of age) 
and told him how to fashion the ark, what kind of 
wood to make it of — the size of the ark, the size of the 
door and the one window — and Noah being a good 
sort of man, followed instructions, and the ark was 
gotten up according to specifications. 

God seems to have changed his tactics somewhat 
since those days. Now, if a man, or a set of men, 
decide to build a ship, schooner, steamboat or raft, he 
seems not to interfere, and lets them get the same up 
abou*: as they wish to, and does not trouble himself 
much about its length, width or height. Not so in 
Captain Noah's time ; the entire details were given 



4 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

then by God, and Noah had just to carry them out to 
the letter. 

It is unnecessary to enumerate all the details ; the 
reader is doubtless familiar with them. Every per- 
son is necessarily so, who has grown up iu this Chris- 
tian country. Our purpose is to look at these '* in- 
herent evidences of divinity,'* and to see if the state- 
ments in this remarkable narrative comport with di- 
vine truth as found in reason and science. To our 
mind, the whole story abounds with so much that is 
crude, improbable and impossible, that we are com- 
pelled to discredit it, and we are far more constrained 
to think it the work of some ill-informed person that 
to suppose God ever wrote it, or dictated it. We will 
not have space in this article to consider all the points 
in this remarkably damp subject, but will notice a 
few of them. 

One of the difficulties to get over, is to understand 
where such a vast quantity of water, sufficient to 
cover the whole surface of the earth, five miles or 
more in depth, (for it takes that distance to reach the 
tops of the highest mountains which we are told were 
covered) could come from. Think for a moment, of 
the vast amount that would be required to envelope 
the whole earth, to the depth of five miles, remem- 
bering the earth is twenty-five thousand miles in cir- 
cumference in either direction. Why, it would take 
hundreds of times as much water as is in existence in 
connection with this planet. Where could this water 
all come from ? Where could it all have been stored? 
And where, again, could it all have gone to, when the 
rain was over ? It hardly answers to use the argu- 
ment commonly given us on occasions like this by 
our Christian friends, **all things are possible with 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 5 

God." It is not true; all things are not possible with 
God. He cannot be inconsistent with himself — he 
cannot act against himself — he cannot lie. If we 
know anything of God at all, it is that Nature's laws 
were established by him, and that he never transcends 
' them. It would be nearly as consistent to ask us to 
' believe that God caused water enough to fill the entire 
orbit of Neptune, thus submerging the sun, the earth 
and all the planets in the solar system, as to ask us to 
believe that, by ** breaking up the fountains of the 
deep and opening the windows of heaven," water 
enough was let down in forty days to cover the entire 
''earth, to the depth of five miles. What a clumsy de- 
scription — what an impossible story! 
Reader, just think for a moment how fast it must 
- have rained to make five miles in depth in forty days; 
(the tops of the highest mountains are more than five 
miles above the level of the sea). The highest point 
of the Himalaya mountains is 29,200 feet high; thus, 
the water would have to fall to the depth of 730 feet 
per day, thirty feet and five inches per hour, or six 
and a half inches per minute; and this for forty days 
and nights over the whole earth. And this too with- 
out taking into account the increased diameter of the 
earth as we diverge from its usual surface. It would 
' require a vastly greater quantity of water for the last 
■ mile than the first — more, even, than exists on the 
earth to-day. The rain that could produce such a 
rise may, in South-western parlance, be well denomi- 
nated *' a right smart shower.'* All the water-spouts, 
*' cloud bursts " and torrents the world has ever known 
could not produce one trillionth part of the water that 
this one rain did. We are appalled at the immense 



6 THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 

quantity of ^ water, and again ask, where could it all 
come from? 

The atmosphere could support but a small frac- 
tion of it when evaporated; then what became of it? 
Let us for a moment consider the utter impossibility 
of the evaporation of such a body of water at a dis- 
tance of five miles from the earth's surface. At an 
altitude of 12,000 feet we find perpetual snow, even 
under the equator. It is so cold at that height, that 
snow never melts, and, consequently, cannot evapor- 
ate. Add nearly 18,000 feet more to this altitude and I 
we arrive at a point so cold that it would never rain 
or snow there, and could it be possible for water to 
reach that height, it would freeze at once fifty feet in^ 
depth, never again to melt or evaporate. 

Mount Ararat, where the ark ia said to have effect- 
ed a landing, is over seventeen thousand feet high, 
which is hye or six thousand feet above the line of 
perpetual snow. It would be a pretty cold altitude 
for the disembarkment of animals belonging to the 
tropics and southern temperate zones, and they would 
inevitably perish long before they could get down 
where it was warm enough to suit their natures. 

Reader, the impossibility and falseness of this del. 
Hge story are very apparent. It is simply aa impossi- 
billity. Such an event never occurred, and God nev- i 
er wrote any such statement, though it may be found " 
in a thousand Bibles. He is not the author of such 
unmitigated and foolish falsehoods. 

Instead of finding '* inherent evidence " of divinity 
in this statement, we find inherent evidence of igno- 
rance and stupidity. Let us not for a moment sup- 
pose God requires us to throw away our reason and 
common sense to believe such insipid twaddle. 



I 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 7 

God is not such an unreasonable being; nor does he 
require man to so stultify himself and all that is di- 
vine in his nature. The highest and truest conception 
we can have of God, is truth, goodness and justice, 
the opposite of falsehood, revenge and oppression. 
Let us then believe him to be a good being, not a mon- 
ster of cruelty and wrong. 



We will proceed to further examine the * * inherent 
evidences" of what is claimed to be'* God's word,'* 
and see how they bear investigation. Of course it is 
not in our power to do any harm to anything really 
divine, but if we can aid in removing the mask of ae- 
ception used to cover that which is false, we wll cer- 
tainly be doing a good deed toward our fellow men. 

We have seen that at the time of the flood — but a 
few generations from Adam — the inhabitants of the 
earth could not have been very numerous — not a 
thousandth part as numerous as they have since* be- 
come. We are to understand that at that time but a 
few of the countries of the globe were peopled, but 
God deemed it necessary to go to the trouble of 
drowning the globe five miles in depth, to remove the 
few thousands of people at that time on the earth, 
when he was able to accomplish the task in other 
ways, in an hour or in a moment, and as we remark- 
ed, without subjecting innocent, unoffending birds 
and animals to the same cruel fate. 

But as God had decided to destroy ** every living 
thing that lived upon tha earth," it must needs be 
accomplished. But why destroy one portion of ani- 
mal life, and save another? Was it because a part 
of the animal creation was less guilty than another? 
Prof. Denton pertinently enquires, ** why should the 



8 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

beasts, birds and creeping things be destroyed? 
What had the larks, the doves and the bob-o-links 
done ? What had the squirrels and rabbits done, that 
they should be destroyed ? If the land animals had 
to be destroyed, why not also those of the sea ? 
Were the dogs sinners, and the dog-fish saints ? Had 
the sheep been more guilty than the sharks ? Had the 
pigeons become utterly corrupt, and the pikes re- 
mained perfectly innocent ? " It is truly very dijOftcult i 
to reconcile the story with the idea of equal and im- 
partial justice. 

As the person who wrote the account knew nothing 
about the rotundity of the earth, very little of its size 
and extent, or the altitude of its mountains, it is not 
strange, perhaps, that he accorded so heavy a contract 
to God, as to submerge so vast an orb with such an 
immense depth of water. He do ibtless thought the 
earth was only of limited extent and of level surface — 
not spherical — and that a moderate quantity of water 
would be sufficient to cover it. This ignorance on the 
part of the writer, proves it to be a human production, 
and that God had no more to do with writing it, or 
dictating it, than an inhabitant of the Feejee Islands. 

The author of the tale was also very ignorant of 
the number of varieties of birds, animals, and creeping 
things that exist upon the earth, the amount of 
room that would be needed to contain them, and the 
necessary food to sustain them for a year, or he would 
have known that the ark, whose dimensions he gives, 
was wholly insufficient for the purpose. 

Let us see for a moment, what the cargo of the ark 
invoiced to, and what the proximate number of species 
of the animal world amounted to. Of birds alone. 
Lessen, the naturalist, estimates at 6,000, while Gray, 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 9 

•another distinguished naturalist, in his '* Genera 
jof Birds," estimates them at 8,000; of these, seven 
Wales and seven females each, or 112,000 birds, in 
! all were taken into the ark. Besides these, two of 
I every species of unclean beasts and fourteen of every 
variety of clean beasts had to be taken in, and 
they made an extensive menagerie indeed. The 
ablest and most recent Zoological authorities, enum- 
erate the animal kingdom as follows : Of mammalSy 
or milk-giving animals, 2,000 species ; ruminantia, or 
cud-chewers, 167 ; pachy derma, or thick-skinned 
mammals, as the horse, elephant, hog, etc., 412 ; 
edentia^ the sloth, the ant-eaters, etc., 35 ; rodentia, or 
gnawers — the rat, squirrel, the beaver, etc., 617; 
carnivora, or flesh-eaters, 446 ; cheiropetra, the bat 
tribe, 328 ; quadrumana, or monkeys, 221 ; marsupials^ 
or pouched-mammals like the opossom and kangaroo, 
127. 

Of the reptiles, there are 637 species, exclusive of 
200 varities, that can live in water. 

Of the insects, including ants, beetles, flies, bugs, 
fleas, mosquitoes, wasps, bees, moths, butterflies, spi- 
ders, scorpions, grasshoppers, locusts, myriapdds, 
canker-worms, and wriggling, creeping, crawling, 
flying insects, are almost inconceivable and number- 
less, but they all had to have a place. 

It will not be an over-estiniate to put down ISToah's 
family, that he housed and boarded for a year, as fol- 
lows : 112,000 birds; 10,000 clean and unclean beasts ; 
200.000 insects, flies, fleas, bugs and worms, or a total 
of over 320,000 living beings — an immense host indeed 
for one old man and his three boys to care for, during 
twelve months. What a herculean task it must have 
been to have gathered all these animals together from 



10 THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 

all parts of the world, and at a time when there were 
no railroads, steamboats, or other adequate means of 
transportation. How long would it now take four 
persons to collect in one place, from all parts of the 
earth, from two to fourteen of every existing species 
of birds, beasts and insects with the positive certainty 
that thousands upon thousands of them must inevit- 
ably die off before they could be gathered ? A cen- 
tury would be insufficient. What a profound knowl- 
edge of natural history old Noah must have had, to 
be able to select accurately every variety of animated 
existence ; to know when he had all kinds, and when 
he had male and female in proper proportion of the 
bugs and small insects. Has a human being ever 
lived that could perform this task ? Assuredly not. 
How could he have safely carried the immense 
quantity of flies, fleas, bugs, beetles, caterpillars, 
worms, grasshoppers, locusts, and all that constitutes 
insect life, together with the necessary food for the 
journey ? Would not a great portion of them inevit- 
ably die, thus taken and transported contrary to their 
natures ? What a time, too, he must have had in 
hunting up the wild beasts in the forests — which, at 
that time, covered nearly all the land on the globe — 
and what a task he must have found i||^ driving the 
lions, the tigers, the leopards, hyenas, bears and 
wolves. Is it probable that they were so tractable, 
mild and docile, as to allow him to drive them as we 
drive sheep ? Could wolves and sheep, tigers and 
calves, foxes and chickens, be driven promiscuously 
together ? Would not Noah's own life have been seri- 
ously endangered by going among these wild beasts f 
How else could they have been sjathered together to 
enter the ark? Did they conie of their own volition from 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 11 

the four points of the compass, for Noah to put them 
into the ark ? or were they informed of the coming 
*' wet spell," while the human race was kept in ignor- 
ance of it ? If a few of each variety were so in- 
formed, and the others kept in ignorance, was it equal 
justice to all ? 

What an immense labor, also, it must have been to 
collect the necessary food for this great congregation 
of animated life, and what a vast variety of the same 
had to be procured! The elephants, camels, cattle, 
horses, sheep, etc., would require hay; the lions, 
tigers, panthers, wolves, bears, and all the wild beasts 
would require animal food, and could live on nothing 
else. Many animals would require leaves of certain 
trees, and grasses of special kinds. Many varieties 
of birds require seeds and grains, and the immense 
numbers there were of them would necessitate enor- 
mous supplies. Many kinds of the coarser birds re- 
quire fish, and, as they are hearty feeders, great 
quantities would have to be provided, and as fish 
soon spoil after being taken out of the water, they 
would have to be kept in tanks of water, or the smell 
from decomposing fish would be so offensive that 
Noah and his sons, and their wives, could not have 
stood it, and the storks, flamingoes, penguins, petrels, 
cranes, and gulls, would not eat them. . 

Many animals and birds live upon insects of various 
kinds ; and what a task it must have been to gather 
all that kind of food, and preserve it so that it would 
not spoil. Some species of animals feed on bugs and 
worms, some on bees, and some on ants ; some of the 
ant-eaters are six and eight feet in length, and thou- 
sands of ants are necessary for one of them for a sin- 
gle meal. Think what it would require for a pair a 



12 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

year or two! Some insects live on bark, some on 
flowers, some on resinous secretions, some on pollen, 
some on honey, some on the sap of plants, some on 
green leaves. Thirty distinct species are said to live 
on the nettle alone ; two hundred kinds subsist on the 
oak. Many animals live on fruits, and nuts of all 
kinds that grow. 

Space will not permit us to particularize too much. 
The labor of getting all these animals, birds, reptiles, 
and insects on to one place — some of them from a dis- 
tance of ten or twelve thousand miles, and protecting 
them from harm while being collected together, with 
procuring and preserving the requisite quantities and 
varieties of food for the time being, and the year 
while in the ark, could not possibly be performed by 
ten thousand men in a year's time. In short, there 
are hundreds of impossibilities connected with the 
story that no number of men could overcome. How, 
then, could aged Noah, and his three boys, have per- 
formed the task? 

But, admitting it to be possible for all this vast host 
of animated life to be congregated together, with the 
necessary amount of food, how could all possibly 
have been stored away in a vessel the size of the ark? 
It was not large enough to contain the food alone for 
a year's supply. The length of the ark was three 
hundred cubits, the width fifty, and the height thirty. 
Some authorities make the cubit to be eighteen 
inches, while the highest estimate is twenty- two 
inches. It does not require an elaborate calculation 
to show that an ark of these dimensions could not 
possibly contain all, even though the animals, birds, 
reptiles and insects were piled up together lite cord 
wood. 



* THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 13 

Waving these impossibilities, however, let us im- 
agine that all are well inside (though Noah and his 
sons could not put in the food alone in six months), 
we still find enormous difficulties to contend with. 
There was but one door and one window to the 
ark, which were fastened, for it must be remembered 
'*the Lord shut them all in." If the window, even, 
was left open, it was small, being only one and a half 
cubits in size, and totaly inadequate for ventilation. 
It will be remembered, the ark was pitched without 
and wilhin, so that all the air this huge mass of ani- 
mal life had to sustain them, must come in at this one 
small aperture. The stench and foulness of the air of 
that place can hardly be imagined. It would seem 
every animal must, under such circumstances, be 
smothered to death in half an hour. If it were possi- 
ble to place such a multitude of animals, birds and in- 
sects in a close vessel of the size of the ark, there would 
not one of them be left alive at the expiration of a single 
week. Think of. the excrement, solid, semi-solid and 
fluid that must necessarily be voided by the tens of 
thousands of these living beings. What a time Noah 
and his boys must have had in conveying it up three 
stories to the small window at the top, and throwing 
it out on the flat roof, and this to be kept up, day and 
night, for nearly four hundred days ! Nice business? 
was it not ? Would it be possible for one old man 
and his three boys to accomplish the task ? The men 
and women who were drowned may have had a sad 
time of it, and it seems cruel in their Creator to have 
treated them thus, but we would certainly prefer their 
situation to that of Noah and his family. They were 
immersed in a stinking, loathsome hell, the most dis. 



14 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

gusting that can be imagined, vastly worse tlian being 
decently and divinely drowned. 

It is impossible for us to exhaust this beautiful sub- 
ject — these ** inherent evidences "of the divine au- 
thority of the story in one article, and we must defer 
a further consideration till our next. 



In pursuing our examination of this subject let it be 
borne in mind that it is not for the purpose of casting 
a stigma upon that which is really true and divine, or 
treating with levity that which millions regard as sa" 
cred and solemn, but to see if the narrative is positive- 
ly the work of the hand of God, or whether it is the 
silly tale of an ignorant person. If it really is dimne 
we will find it to contain the elements of truth and 
beauty^ while if it is false and inconsistent we must 
regard it as a human production only. 

In our last we left Captain Noah floating around in 
his huge vessel without sail or rudder. (As the masters 
of all vessels of much smaller size are honored with 
the title of Gaptairiy it is probably not amiss that we 
should also accord this modern title to father Noah.\ 
We left him and his three boys busily engaged ib 
cleaniDg out, and carrying to the one small window iri 
the roof, the profuse droppings and necessary filth Oi. 
that great assemblage of live stock. We stili have 4- 
pity for him in the onerous duty he had to perform. 
Think for a moment, dear reader, of the amount of la- 
bor it would require at the hands of an old man six 
hundred years of age and his three boys to safely pro- 
tect, to feed and care for 300,000 living animals, 
closely shut up for more than a year in an ark pitched 
without and within! Did four men, before or since, 
ever have such a task to perform ? Would not such 



I 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 15 

a vast number of animals, birds and insects whose na- 
ture was be out in the free, open air, stiffle, sicken 
and die in snch a close unventilated atmosphere ? 
Would it not require as a great miracle to keep them 
alive under such circumstances as it would to pre- 
serve their lives in the water, or to create them anew ? 
We are told it only took a part of a day to make them 
all in the first place. It»would certainly seem very 
troublesome to keep up a continued miracle of more 
than a year's duration, merely to preserve this animal 
life, when God could so easily reproduce it in a few 
hours. 

As we remarked, there are so many absurdities ^d 
impossibilities in the story that it seems marvelous to 
us how sensible people have been able to give their 
assent to it, aad to believe that it was written by the 
hand of God. It must be well understood there were 
many thousand forms of existence that required pecu- 
liar conditions and food which they could not pos- 
sibly have for thirteen months in the Ark. 

We before alluded to the difficulty of procuring the 
immense variety of food necessary for all these ani- 
mals while being gathered together preparatory to 
entering the Ark, and let us dwell a little longer upon 
the subject now that they are all shut in. Many 
forms of animal life require fresh food in the form of 
grass, herbage and leaves, and can live on nothing 
else; how could. they get it there? Others require 
insects, grubs and bugs ; how could they be furnished 
for a year? It of course would not do to use up the 
stock gathered to preserve the species, and they also 
would soon be exhausted if so used. Many of the 
large birds, as we have seen, live upon fish alone and 
it woulct require an immense supply for them a whole 



16 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

year; where were they obtained? We are not told 
anything about Noah's having conveniences for fish- 
ing; and he could have no adequate^ facilities for 
getting the necessary amount of fish from the roof of 
the Ark, and even if he had, he had more to do than 
he possibly could attend to, without fishing; but how 
did the penguins, pelicans, flamingoes, cormorants, 
petrels, herons, storks, albatrgses, cranes, gulls, ducks, 
and hundreds of other water fowls get their food? 
Of course they must eat ; they could not fast for a year.' 
A large proportion of what are called wild animals 
require animal fowl, freshly killed and can subsist on 
nothing else. How did they get their year's sup- 
plies? We are told nothing about this, nor whether 
they eat it all or not ; but is it reasonable to suppose 
that the lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, hyeoas, 
wolves, bears, dogs, etc. etc., would be long quiet 
without something to eat ? Would they not be apt 
to *' pitch into '' the sheep, goats, cattle, hares, rab- 
bits and the hundreds of smaller animals, and soon 
exterminate them ? We are not told about any food 
of this kind being provided them, and we cannot 
reasonably suppose any was so provided, for it would 
take more animals, suited for the purpose, to sustain 
all the carnivorous beasts for a year, than the whole 
ark would contain ; and they, too, must have food, 
or they would become so emaciated with starvation as 
to afford no nourishment to other animals. It does 
seem impossible to believe the wild beasts named, 
would, or could, live a year without food. Mr. 
Barnum, and other showmen, could easily give us 
information as to the amount of animal flesh re- 
quired for the wild beasts, and the amount of labor 
required to take necessary care of them. ,^ 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 1? 

Where did tfie elephants, camels, girafles, horses, 
asses, cattle, deer, elk, sheep, goats, etc., etc., get 
their food ? Could they live a year without eating 9 
What a bulk of hay and fodder it must have required 
for them during that long voyage. How did the ant- 
eaters get their supply ? How did the animals who 
subsist on honey get theirs ? There are nineteen 
species of goat-suckers, or one hundred and thirty 
individuals that feed on moths, beetles etc., etc., 
Then one hundred and thirty- seven species or nine 
hundred and fifty-nine individual fly-catchers ; there 
are thirty-seven species of bee-eaters, or two hundred 
and fifty-nine individuals. How could all these find 
their food ? Flowers are necessary for the exist- 
ence of £ome birds and insects — where were they 
obtained ? Many animals live on fruits alone, many 
on nuts and seeds ; where in the ark could they 
be found ? How about those insects which do not 
live a year ; did the same ones who went into the 
Ark come ont again sound and well ? Really, more 
questions can be asked in relation to this story of the 
big flood than our Christian friends can satisfactorily 
answer ; and many we will pass by. 

One of the great obstacles to get over, is, how all 
the yarities of animals could get along peaceably and 
quietly together. The nature of many varieties is 
so ferocious that they would not live amicably with 
lambs and kids. We are told nothing about any 
being put in cages or fastened with chains ; and in 
the illustrations which have accompanied the narrative, 
we have seen all the animals marching in or out, in 
pairs, and with all the order and precision of a regi- 
ment of well-trained soldiers, and sometimes a boy with 
a long gad driving them. Is it to be supposed that 



18 THE STOKY OP THE FLOOD. 

■m 

the wild beasts of the forest, the lions, the tigers, the 
rhinoceroses could live in docility with the deer, the 
sheep and the horses ? Would the eagles, the condors, 
the vultures and the hawks dwell tamely with the doves, 
the quails, the robins and the chickens ? Wou d the 
anaconda, the boa-constrictor, the cobra and the rattle- 
snake never interfere with the kid, the guinea-pig, the 
frog, or the mouse ? Would all the antagonistic ani- 
mals existing thus move and live together in perfect 
haimony and peacefulness ? Is there anything like it 
in our experience of the animal kingdom ? 

Would such a diverse and incongruous collection of 
wild and tame animals thus shut up in the dark, and 
packed like sardines in a box, naturally become a 
*' happy family '* as Barnum exhibits ? Or did it 
require God's constant attention for thirteen months 
to keep the strong and ferocious from destroying the 
weak and timid ? Can any sane person believe such 
a condition possible ? 

We have alluded to Mount Ararat where the ark is 
said to have rested. It was 17,000 feet high — a long 
way above eternal frost and snow. Is it not singular 
that God did not cause the Ark to float until it could 
rest lower down in the valley where the cold would 
not be so intense as to destroy a great portion of the 
animals, birds and insects as soon as they should emerge 
from the ark, even if they were warm enough while 
inside. 

And how about the food for all this host of animals 
after leaving the ark, though they had required none 
before ? Remember the earth had been under water 
for a year, and in that time every tree, plant and veg- 
etable, every blade of grass must inevitably have 
been killed, for experience teaches us that vegetation 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 19 

will not Stand drowning for a year much better than the 
animal world. How were all the thousand^ of varie- 
ties in the vegetable kingdom reproduced ? Did it re- 
quire another special creation ? It must have done, but 
we are told nothing on this ground. If we were so told 
it would not be easy to believe it, but hearing nothing 
about it, we are left entirely in the dark, and must be- 
lieve what to us seems most reasonable. 

Does the story not involve the great absurdity that 
God deliberately destroyed all vegetable life on the 
globe for the sake of getting rid of man ? Why was 
not Noah instructed to take a specimen of each tree, 
shrub and plant, little and big, with him into the ark, 
that they might be spared from the devastating flood ? 
Was it not as necessary to preserve the vegetable king- 
dom as the animal ? Could one be reproduced or re- 
created easier than the other ? 

A strong fact in opposition to the story of the deluge 
is the existence of volcanoes in various parts of the 
earth, whose altitude is far inferior to that of Ararat, 
and whose open craters have been belching and smoking 
for thousands of years before the time allotted to the 
flood ; and geologists find not the slightest indica- 
tions that water has ever entered them. Hugh Miller sta- 
ted that in the numerous extinct or lon^ slumbering vol- 
canoes of Auvergne, France, and along the flanks of 
Etna, as well as in various other parts of the world, 
of at least triple antiquity of the Noachian del- 
uge and though composed of ordinary incoherent ma- 
terials, exhibit no mark of denudation. 

Sir Charles Lyell says,** no devastating flood could 
ever have pased over the forest zone of jEtna during the 
last twelve thousand years." These authorities are cer- 



20 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

tainiy much more reliable than the unknown and un- 
learned writer of the book of Genesis. 

Let us imagine for a moment th at the earth is thus 
covered with water to the tops of the highest moun- 
tains, and pressing down in immense volumes into the 
wide mouths of the numerous volcanoes on the globe, 
which connect directly with the internal and super- 
heated fires of the earth : think for a moment what vol- 
umes of vapor and gases must be immediately genera- 
ted, and what tremendous consequences must be there- 
ult. The earth would be torn in fragments by explo- 
sions. Not all the earthquakes that have ever ta- 
ken place would be ** flea-bites " compared to it. 

Another insurmountable argument against the 
truth of the story is of an arehaeological character. 
Nations have existed from a time long anterior to that 
allotted to the deluge, and they have no account of 
any such flood, and their continued existence is 
proof positive of the falsity of the story. Prominent 
among such nations, are the Chinese and the Egyp- 
tians. They have histories and inscriptions leading 
back into antiquity at least twelve thousand years. 
Bayard Taylor and other distinguished archseologists, 
state that Egypt presents abundance of proofs that 
it has uninterruptedly existed as a nation for more than 
t^welve thousand years. China claims an equal antiq- 
uity. Can these facts be reconciled with the story of 
a universal flood less than five thousand years ago? If 
the world was totally drowned out, would those nations 
not have known something about it? The Egyptians 
had abundance of mummies, statues, inscriptions, 
paintings and other representations belonging to a 
period much older than Noah's time. Lepsius, writing 
from the pyramids of Memphis, in 1843, said: **We 



THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 21 

are still busy with structures, sculptures and inscrip* 
tions, which are to be classed by meajis of the now 
more accurately determined groups of kings in an 
epoch of highly flourishing civilization, as far back 
as the fourth millennium before Chri?t," or nearly two 
hundred years before the time of the Ark. Chevalier 
Bunsen, in his elaborate and philosophical work on 
ancient Egypt, has satisfied many learned scholars by 
an appeal to monumental inscriptions still extant, 
that the successive dynasties of kings may be traced 
back without a break to Menes, and that the date of 
his reign corresponds with a time nearly thirteen hun- 
dred years before the time of the flood. 

Again, Lepsius asserted, in the ** Types of Man- 
kind," that negroes and other Africamc races, existed 
on the upper Nile, at least, 2,300 years before Christ; 
as this would be less than fifty years from the time of 
the deluge, it would follow they could not have been 
-the progeny of Ham; interim sufficient not hav- 
ing elapsed for nations to have sprung up. 

In view of hundreds of impossibilities and absurdi- 
ties of the Bible story of the deluge, and in face of 
the positive proofs that such an occurence could never 
have taken place, it is not at all strange that modern 
clergymen should now preach that a belief in a liter- 
al deluge as described, is not to be expected, and if it 
occurred at all, it was only local or partial — that sci- 
ence and religion go hand in hand, and that the for- 
mer does not conflict with the latter. The Rev. Dr. 
Talmage, one of the first clergymen in our sister city 
of Brooklyn, in a late leader in his paper, the ChiHs- 
iian at Work, says, ** The Bible account of the creation 
of the world from a Sunday to a Friday, the totality 
of the delude, the utter mobility of the sun, (at the 



22 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

time Joshua commanded it to stand still,) are no lon- 
ger preached from the pulpit." The Doctor greatly 
misrepresents the truth — they are still preached from 
the pulpit, but the fact of his, and other learned doc- 
tors of divinity, trying to ignore these ^Id, silly sto- 
ries, and the endeavor to make their religion harmo- 
nize with the demonstrations of science, proves pret- 
ty conclusively, the utter untenability of the * * sacred 
stories." But, gentlemen of the clergy, how are you 
going to get away from the facts? '^he book which 
you still insist is the word of God, says positively, 
that God declared, before he produced the flood, that 
he would ** utterly destroy both man and beast, and 
every creeping thing," and again, "the end of all flesh 
is come before me. I will destroy them with the 
earth. I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to 
destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life under the 
heaven and everything in the earth shall die.'* 

We are afterwards expressly told the floods did 
come and ** covered the earth to the tops of the high- 
est mountains and that all flesh died that moved upon 
the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beasts and 
every creeping thing and every man." Now, rever- 
end sirs, how are you going to get around this ? The 
story is either true, or it is false, and you ought, if 
you believe it to be false, have the honesty to say so, 
and not try to dodge the issue. You, however, see it 
cannot he true and you endeavor to evade it, and still 
insist that the story is the **word of God." It cer- 
tainly is a part of a great fable, and a very important 
part. It is recognized as true by many who are 
called *' sacred writers," and among others by him who 
is called the **Son of God." In Matt, xxv, 37-39 he 
is reported as saying, ** But as the days of Noe were, 



% 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 23 

SO shall, also, the coming of the Son of Man be. For aa 
in ihe d'\ys that were before the flo od, they were eating 
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until 
the d9T that Noe entered the Ark and knew not until 
the flood came and took them all away; so shall the 
comi/fg of the Son of Man be." If Dr. Talmage and 
his learned coadjutors do now disbelieve the story, 
ard wish to set it aside, it is evident their master be- 
li^iVcd the account and gave it his endorsement. This 
proves he was only mortal, and as liable to be de- 
ceit ed and mistaken as other men. 



There are many additional points relative to the 
story of the deluge that might be alluded to, showing 
its complete incompatibility with the teachings of 
science ; but as we have much other matter in the 
same book to pay somo attention to, we must not 
dwell too long upon any one part of 11. 

Before leaving the subject, however, we will say a 
few words in reference to the assuaging of the waters, 
or their evaporation after the big rain was over. It 
will be borne in mind that the water covered the en- 
tire surface of the earth, to the depth of five miles or 
more, and that the evaporation of this vast body of 
water was no insignificant operation. The story 
says, "God caused a wind to pass over the earth and 
the waters assuaged." We submit it, that it would 
take a pretty stiff breeze and long continued, to evap- 
orate such a quantity of water, and the questions 
naturally arise, where would the vapor find place to 
^o to ? Where could such a volume of water, in the 
form of vapor be stored ? It is well known that the 
evaporation which takes place on the surface of the 
earth, is sustained in the form of clouds, etc. , by the 



24 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 

atmosphere, and that when the accumulation arrives 
at a certain point, the atmosphere cannot longer re- 
tain it and it descends again in the form of dew and 
rain and snow. As it would be utterly impossible 
for the atmosphere to retain permanently, in form -of 
vapor, one millionth part of such a quantity of water, 
the assertion that all was so retained is an utter ab- 
surdity. This must be obvious to the most partial 
observer of Nature's laws.* Though it might evapor- 
ate any number of times, the atmosphere could not 
retain it, and it must inevitably fall to the earth 
again. This is conclusive, as to the falsity of the 
narrative. The person who wrote it knew nothing 
of the utter impossibility of such an event ever taking 
place. 

The first thing it seems Noah did after leaving the 
ark and taking with him his family and the preserved 
species of all animated existences, was to erect an 
altar unto the Lord upon which he offered burnt 
•offerings of one at least of every clean beast and 
€very clean fowfthat had been with him a year in 
the ark, and which seems to have been preserved for 
this express purpose, and the sweet smell of this 
savor seemed to have a remarkable eff'ect upon the 
Lord, for he ** said in his heart I will not again curse 
the ground any more for man's sake ; for the imagin- 
ation of man's heart is evil from his youth ; neither 
shall I smite any more everything living, as I have 
done." Now if Noah could have builded this altar 
and burned these animals and fowls for the Lord to 
smell, as a svv^ot savor in his nostrils, fifteen months 
earlier, and thus have gotten him into a pleasant hu- 
mor with all his creation, what a vast destruction of 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 25 

life it would have averted, and what great labor and 
trouble it would have saved the two. 

It seems after the flood was over that the Lord be- 
came convinced of the inutility of the destroying pro- 
cess as a remedy for the ills that existed, and the re- 
sults proved the correctness of his convictions ; for 
when, from the seed or stock which Noah had pi e- 
served in the ark, the earth had again become peo- 
pled with a new race of animals and men, they were 
just as wicked as they were before the flood, thus 
showing conclusively that the entire experiment had 
been a failure, and that the labor had been completely 
thrown away. It seems the Lord so regarded it, for 
he promised he would not do so again — another in- 
stance of his repenting his course and changing his 
mind ; and though we are afterwards told he never 
does this thing, and that he is unchangeable — '*the 
same yesterday, to-day and forever ; '' and in other 
cases that he was ** not a man, that he should repent,'* 
we are nevertheless required to believe the older story 
at least as true ; for in a number of places in Genesis, 
we are informed the Lord did repent of what he had 
done. As it is perfectly easy for our Christian friends 
to believe both statements — that he does repent and 
that he does not — we should, perhaps, admire the fa- 
cility with which they perform the difficult task. 

As we said, so thoroughly did the Lord seem im- 
pressed with the inutility of the drowning process, 
that he voluntarily entered into a covenant with 
Koah, that he would not again resort to it — that there 
should' never be another flood to **cut off all'ftesh,'* 
and to destroy the earth. To seal the bargain, it says, 
he set his bow in a cloud. Many believe this was the 
origin of the rainbow ; but as the rays of the sun 



26 THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 

falling upon mist or fine rain produce it, and as tli« 
same causes under the same conditions must in all 
cases produce the same results, it is but fair to sup- 
pose that this simple phenomena occurred millions of 
times before Noah, as it has millions of times since. 
The writer of the book of Genesis was evidently igno- 
rant of what produces the rainbow. 

Inasmuch, however, as God seemed to be in a be- 
nignant mood when *'heset his bow" in this in- 
stance, resolving never more to destroy life by a flood, 
what a fine thing it would have been for men, and 
womeo, and beasts and fowls living upon the earth 
one year and a quarter previous to that if he could 
have set his bow then, and decided not to drown out 
life from the earth. They then would have been the 
recipients of the same mercy, kindness and justice 
that he accorded to their successors ; but that was an 
instance when God was not the same yesterday, to- 
day, and forever. It was their misfortune to live at 
a time when the justice of a Deity required a vast de- 
struction of animal life because his plans had not 
worked as he expected, and because the conduct of 
his creatures had been in accordance with the natures 
and motives with which they had been endowed. 

Among the first things which Father Noah did after 
he resumed the regular avocations of life, was to 
plant a vineyard and engage in the grape culture ; but 
it is a pity it had to be recorded of that good man — one 
who had found special favor in the sight of God, that 
he should be deficient in the virtue of temperance to 
the extent that he should get ** beastly drunk "and lie 
naked in his tent. His son Ham seeing the naked- 
ness of his old father while lying in this drunken 
sleep, mentioned the fact to his two brothers, when 



THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 27 

they stepped into the tent backward, or with their 
faces averted, so as not to see their father^s nakedness, 
and covered him with a garment. The conduct of 
Ham does not seem to have been very reprehensible 
but his father was very angry with him for it, and 
cursed his son Canaan bitterly, dooming him and his off- 
spring to servitude to his brethren and their offspring. 
We can see the beauty of this phase of Divine justice 
when we remember that our Christian friends have 
said this fact of Ham happening to see his father's na- 
kedness, and mentioning it to Shem and Japhet was 
the reason why his offspring who were certainly not 
guilty, were destined to thousands of years of servi- 
tude, bondage and degradation. 

If Ham committed a fault it would seem natural jus- 
tice to punish Mm and not his offspring. And it would 
appear that Noah's getting so drunk and cursing his 
grandchild was a much greater offense than for Ham, ac- 
cidentally or otherwise, to have discovered his father's 
nakedness. But according to the Bible, Divine justice 
has time and again been so different from human justice 
that it is very natural for us to conclude it means to pun- 
ish one class for what another class had done. It seems 
cruel that Canaan's offspring had to be cursed with the 
worst slavery the world has known because the 
grandfather Ham committed a trivial offense. 

If Noah had remained sober and kept his garments 
on the poor Africans, (who are said to be the children of 
Ham,) would have been spared the servitude and igno- 
miny which have been their fate for thousands of years 
while the descendents of two of Noah's sons were con- 
stituted their masters — a strong illustration, indeed, of 
the evil of intemperance. 

After the flood, it seems men decreased in longeTi- 



28 THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 

ty. Before the flood they were said to have lived 
eight or nine hundred years, and one man nearly a 
thousand. After the flood their lives materially short 
ened, averaging two or three hundred years, and grad, 

ually lessening until Abraham's time, after which 
they seemed not to live much longer than people do 
now. Whether this was in consequence of the mias. 
ma which resulted from the stagnation that succeeded 
the evaporation of such a body of water, and the con- 
sequent decomposition of dead vegetable and animal 
matter upon the surface of the earth, the story does 
not tell us, though we may well suppose it was very 
considerable, and well calculated to engender disease 
and to shorten life. 

In the examination we make of the book' which 
millions revere as the '* Word of God '* we, cannot ex- 
pect to notice every part of it, or to call attention to 
all the cases of error and imperfection it contains. 
This would be a moie elaborate work than we propose 
for ourself . Our purpose is, to call attention to a part 
only of the impossibilities and absurdities with which 
the book abounds, and^to show it is unworthy the high 
veneration accorded it. We dwelt longer upon the ac- 
count of the deluge than we can upon corresponding 
portions of the book, because it is an important part of 
the story upon which the Christian religion is founded 
and because it is so replete with the grossest untruth. 
We think we have shown the improbality of such an 
event having occurred. 

1. Because it makes God destroy his own work, not 
only in the human and animal world, but .the vege- 
table domain as well, necessitating an entire new crea- 
tion of every tree, shrub, herb, plant and blade of grass, 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 29 

No variety of vegetable life could have survived such 
a drowning process. 

2. Because such a vast amount of water as would cov- 
er the earth over 29,000 feet deep could not be pro- 
duced, and does not exist in connection with this 
planet 

3. If the earth was so submerged, such a quantity 
of water could never be disposed of nor taken up in 
the air by evaporation, nor be retained there. 

4 Because it would be utterly impossible for four 
men to gather all the varieties of animal life which ex- 
ist on the earth, with the almost endless kinds of food 
necessary to sustain them. 

5. Because the aninaals, wild and tame, the birds, 
reptiles and insects from the torrid, temperate and 
frigid zones, could not long exist together under the 
same conditions; and some would inevitably become 
the prey of others. 

6. Because the ark of the dimensions given, could 
not possibly contain such an aggregation of animal 
life, together with the food necessary to sustain it for 
a year. 

7. Because 300,000 individual existences could not 
live, for one day even, In such an ark made air-tight 
by being pitched, without and within, with one small 
window, only, 

8. Because Noah and his sons could not attend to 
such an aggregation of animal life, keeping them 
from destroying or injuring each other, giving them 
their necessary food, and removing the filth which 
accumulated. 

9. Because, at the elevation of 17,000 feet, where 
the ark is said to have rested, it is far above the line 
of perpetual frost, where the cold is always so in. 



30 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 



tense that thousands of the varieties of the tenderer 
animals must have perished before they could reach 
the milder regions below, where they could live. 

10. Because of the utter inutility of the whole 
scheme in order to destroy the human race, when the 
new world had to be re-peopled by a seed of the same 
cursed race that was drowned, and the new class 
proved themselves to be equally as bad in every re- 
spect as the one which so much pains was taken to 
destroy. 

We care not to repeat the arguments heretofore 
used, nor to call attention to the scores of impossibili- 
ties and absurdities connected with the story; and 
with the conviction that the narration abounds with 
so much that is unworthy ^he character of God, so 
much that is impossible, so much that a rational per- 
son connot really and intelligently believe, we will 
bid adieu to the subject. 



1 



Admitting there are parts of the Bible that contain 
grand thoughts and elevated ideas, that some of it is 
poetical and more or less inspired, if you please — in 
the sense that poets and orators are inspired in these 
days — that good morals are inculcated in its pages, 
the greater portion of it is a mere recital of the wars 
of the Jews and other nations, the intrigues and cru- 
elties of kings, the perfidy, wantonness and immoral- 
i*y of individuals, and the base and criminal conduct 
of many of its most noted heroes. 

The language is often of so low a character, •de- 
scending frequently to the vulgar and obscene, narra- 
ting not only the commonest affairs of life, the con- 
tentions and conflicts, the amours and courtships, the 
marriages and adulteries, the debaucheries and ex- 



THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 31 

cesses of a semi-barbarous people in a crude age of 
the TNorld, that we wonder how sensible, intellect-, 
ual people in the present age, can accept it as the 
word of God. 

The series of recitals in the book show no superior 
ability in language or thought that is not equalled by- 
thousands of our own time. It was written by differ- 
ent persons, and at different times; but by whom and 
when, is now unknown. Whether they were truthful 
and reliable, we have no means of knowing. Who- 
ever they were, they evidently did not themselves 
think they were writing for God, or that he was di- 
recting them, and in very few cases in the whole com- 
pilation, is any such claim set up. With the excep- 
tion of the prophets, it is not pretended by the writers 
of the book, that they wrote by divine inspiration. 
The most of its sacred character has been accorded to 
it by compilers, translators and numberless priests 
who have subsisted upon the people, by teaching the 
doctrines of the book, and declaring it to be the word 
of God. 

Many of the writers of the Bible have much to say 
of God, of his holding conversation with various indi- 
viduals, as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, 
Samuel, David and many others; but they represent 
him in such an unfavorable light, and give him so bad 
a character, we cannot think they did him justice, or 
that the God they picture is the Deity that governs the 
Universe and fills immensity. They charge him with 
incentives, motives, and impulses so inferior to those 
we conceive should emanate from Deity, that we can- 
not accept them as authorities as to his character and 
nature, but rather as slanderers and vilifiers, making 
him a being, passionate, fickle, changeable, malicious, 



oa THE STORY OP THE FLOOD. 

unjust and cruel; delighting in, and directing wars, 
bloodshed, and the wholesale destruction of mankind. 
In short, they naake him such a blood-thirsty monster 
that we cannot regard the being they hold up, as the 
kind Father of all, filled with goodness, benignity 
and love. We think those authors the crude writers 
of a crude age; that their conceptions and imagina- 
tions were of a crude character, not adapted to the 
present needs of mankind. They were ignorant of 
many of the important truths connected with our ex- 
istence which are now better understood by children. 
We cannot look to them as teachers in any of the 
sciences, such as astronomy, chemistry, mineralogy, 
botany, geometry, mathematics, natural history, nat- 
ural philosophy, etc., for they knew nothing of them. 
Why should we, then, take them any more readily as 
teachers of divinity, or of divine will, purposes and ac- 
tions ? Their ideas of God were most imperfect and 
crude. They believed him to be a person with body, 
face and hands like a man. His passions, impulses 
and desires, were also much the same as man^s. 
They had no idea of any world but this, and they 
necessarily believed him confined to this one sphere. 
Now, by the revelations of science, we have some 
knowledge of the immensity of the Universe ; we 
have learned there are vast numbers of worlds larger 
than this, many of them so remote as to require the 
light of our sun — which travels at the rate of 200,000 
miles per second — thousands of years to reach them. 
As far again beyond the remotest spheres which the 
most powerful telescopes bring to view, we may well 
suppose the Universe still extends ; yes, that it goes 
on and on, forever— -an endless, limitless extent, filled 
with revolving worlds or matter in some form, for 



THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 83 

Nature has no limit and no vacuum. In no part of this 
endless expanse can we conceive there is an absence 
of matter. In all these immense distances — farther than 
the mind can conceive — and in all directions, we 
must understand the same Deity exists there, that ex- 
ists here. He is as limitless as the Universe. How 
absurd, then, to ascribe to him a body, face and 
hands, and make him to occupy a single point in the 
Universe, sitting upon a throne somewhere above the 
clouds, giving his attention to the affairs of this small 
world only. Mankind are gradually emerging from 
the dark and narrow teachings of the past, and as 
their knowledge increases, their minds expand and 
their conceptions of Deity enlarge. They regard him 
as the soul of the Universe, the source of life, motion 
and existence, which always was and always will be. 
They cannot regard him as a circumscribed, local 
person, having size, organs and parts like a man, and 
possessing such mental imperfections and monstrosi- 
ties as the jQjvish writers ascribed to their God. 
Mankind will become more and more convinced that 
the promiscuous writings which compose the Bible, 
are valuable only as mementos of the past ; only 
imperfect accounts of events that occurred a few 
thousand years ago, and not as teachers to us of sci- 
ence, theology, or divinity. 

In the examination of the Bible, we are equally 
struck with the impossibility of many of the events 
narrated, and the culpable, immoral conduct of many 
of its distinguished characters and heroes, who are 
held up as the special servants of God and in his 
particular confidence and favor. We shall from time 
to time, call attention to some Of these instances, to 
see if they are really worthy the belief and veneration 
of mankind. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 10.] 



The Plagues of Egypt. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



. To avoid polixity and a tedious review of the im- 
probable and impossible stories in the book Chris- 
tians regard as the *' word of God," we will omit a de- 
tailed enumeration of the hundreds of instances that, 
in the light of modern science, appear to us extreme- 
ly improbable, and will call attention to some of the 
narratives only, the belief of which involves the ne- 
cessity of God's acting in opposition to himself, and 
setting aside the laws he had established for the gov- 
ernment of the Universe. It is easier to think errors 
were made in these narrations, and that they were 
penned by mistaken or untruthful persons, than to 
imagine God could be engaged in making such state- 
ments, either by writing them himself or dictating 
them to others to write. It is easier to realize that 
these *' big stories " have come down to us from an 
age of ignorance, mysticism and fable, than that 
Deity ever was engaged in setting his own laws aside 
even for a moment. We can understand they were 
written in an age of the world when nothing more 



2 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 

was actually known of God than we know now, but 
when it was claimed more was known, and that he 
talked with certain ones face to lace, as one man talks 
with another. But the assertion does not make it so. 
We have no reason to believe such an event has ever 
taken place. God, as a being, has never been seen 
with man*s eyes, or heard with man*s ears, and asser- 
tions that he has must be taken with the greatest dis- 
trust. 

In establishing many of the religions of the world 
in former ages, it seems to have been a very usual 
thing with the founders of them, and of those who 
detailed accounts of them, to relate very extraordi- 
nary statements of their gods and the works they per 
formed, believing undoubtedly the more remarkable 
the statements they gave, the more wonder and cre- 
dulity would be awakened. With this motive, many 
recitals of what have been called miracles were doubt- 
less made in that age of the world when even its most 
reliable history was greatly blended with fable, mysti- 
cism and untruth. 

Of this character are the narratives of the plagues 
which the Lord is said to have brought upon Pharaoh 
and the Egyptians, and the marvelous events con- 
nected with the departure of the Jews from Egypt ; 
commencing with the rod of Moses and Aaron chang- 
ing into a serpent and swallowing all the serpents which 
Pharaoh's magicians produced, and followed by the 
stretching forth of the same rod and turning the 
rivers, ponds and pools of Egypt (including the river 
Nile,) into blood, and killing all the fish therein 
contained. If all the water in Egypt was turned into 
blood, and if the people could not drink it, the ques- 
tion very naturally arises, how could they live ? In 



THE PLAQUES OF EGYPT. B 

this age of the world a few day's deprivation of water 
causes death. Such statements as the foregoing made 
in these days, would be termed * * snake stories '' and 
"fish stories," and never be believed. 

It seems the Lord wished Pharaoh to let the Israel- 
ites go, and yet he hardened his heart and prevented 
their going, for the purpose of showing his mighty 
power and skill. Such conduct in man would appear 
inconsistent, if not extremely foolish, but as it is 
reported of God, we must believe it and doubt not a 
word of it. The snakes and blood and dead fish fail- 
ing to overcome the hardness of heart which God 
brought upon Pharaoh, Aaron, at the command of 
God and his brother Moses, stretched forth his rod, 
and the land became completely overrun with frogs, 
filling the fields, houses, chambers, beds, ovens and 
kneading troughs. It must have been a pretty good 
time for the frogs, to say the least; and God must 
Jhave produced them on that occasion by a process 
unlike any used before or since. Now, frogs grow 
gradually from tadpoles, hatched from frogs' eggs. 
Can we believe Nature or God ever produced them in 
any other manner, when **he is the same yesterday, 
to-day and forever " ? 

It is noticeable that Pharaoh's magicians were ful- 
ly able to change rods into snakes, and water into 
blood with all the facility that Moses and Aaron did, 
but when they came to the frog trick, they were un- 
equal to that, and were compelled to own tHemselves 
vanquished. It would seem to an ordinary mind 
about as much of a feat to make snakes of twigs, and 
to convert water into blood, as to produce frogs, and 
decidedly a greater exhibition of power than any ma- 
gician or wonder-worker in this age of the world can 



4 THE PLAGUES OP EGYPT. 

accomplish with all the advance that has been made 
in science and learning. The most that magicians 
can do now, is to deceive the eye, and appear to do 
what they really do not do, and it is extremely doubt- 
ful if they had more skill in olden times. No man 
now living can convert rods into snakes, and there is 
no reason to suppose a man ever lived who could do it. 
Neither does the oft-quoted phrase, **all things are 
possible with God," make it any more probable. 

Such a vast multitude of frogs was rather too much 
for Pharaoh, and he importuned Moses to kill them 
ofl, and it is not strange a bad stench should pervade 
the land as they decomposed in the sun. As soon, 
however, as Pharaoh saw the frogs were dead, his 
heart became hardened again, and God proceeded to 
show his power in other ways, in the further attempt 
to overcome the hardness of heart he had brought 
upon the ki g. Aaron again stretched forth that 
wonderful rod, and all the dust of Egypt became lice, 
and they spread completely over man and beast in all 
the land, but proved as unavailing as the previous 
inflictions. Swarms of flies next came in enormous 
quantities. Pharaoh's heart softened under these 
evils, but the Lord hardened it again as soon as they 
were removed, and he would not **let the people go^'^^ 
and other plagues and torments were sent. Next, 
murrain came upon the cattle, killing every head 
owned by the Egyptians, and touching not one that 
belonged to the Jews. It is not so in this age of the 
world ; the cattle of those who consider themselves 
saints are just as liable to be attacked with disease as 
those belonging to the wic'^ed. Killing the cattle was 
unavailing, and boils and pestilence were next sent 
over the' land, and Moses stretched his rod toward 



THE PLAGUb^S OP EGYPT. 5 

iic&ven, and the **Lord sent thunder and hail, and 
fire ranalon^ the ground." Fire and hail were min- 
glea together, killing men and beasts all over the land. 
We submit it was a trifle cruel, after all the cattle 
had oeen killed with murrain, to kill them again the 
next day with thunder, lightning and hail. It was 
bad enough, in all conscience, to kill the poor crea- 
tures Dnce, without repeating the operation time after 
time^ and day after day, and all for committing no 
offense ac all themselves. 

It is Jsaid, also, the hail smote every herb of the 
field, and also broke down the trees, and it is not 
stra/sge that Pharaoh cried out to have all this cease ; 
but the Lord hardened his heart again, and he next 
resorted to locusts. He sent an East wind, which 
brought locusts in such immense quantities as to fill 
the land, ''cover the face of the whole earth," and 
darken the air. They eat every herb of the field and 
all the fruits, of the trees. It may be supposed it was 
rather '* dry picking " for the locusts after the hail 
storm which killed cattle, broke down the trees and 
beat every shrub and plant into the earih, and it is 
hard to say how they could do much harm any way, 
in eating of the debris that mi^ht be found here and 
there, sticking up out of the ground. But still Pha- 
raoh regarded the locusts as a great affliction. 

He was again softened by these God-like visitations, 
and called upon Moses and Aaron in haste to implore 
the Lord to send the locusts away, which he did by 
changing the wind and causing it to blow from the 
West. In a short time there was not a locust in all 
the land. 

Then the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart again, 
and he was no better than before — he still would not 



6 THE PLAGUEQ OF EGYPT. 

let Moses and the people go. Next a ^teA; darkness 
was spread over the land, which lasted three days. 
It was so thick and dense it could be felt, and there 
was no sunlight at all. What became of the sun 
during those three days we are not told. Can it be 
possible it remained on the other side of the globe, 
or rather that the earth did not revolve for that length 
of time ? The darkness on that occasion was of such 
a peculiar character, that it seemed to have substance, 
and could be felt like water, or snow or sand. We 
now know that darkness is negative only, a simple 
absence of light ; that it has no substance and cannot 
possibly be felt, weighed nor measured — in other 
words, it is nothing. The person who wrote this 
story was evidently under the false impression that 
darkness is a matter — an entity — that can be spread 
over a country like rain or hail, and perhaps be sliced 
up with a knife. The most obtuse can see the absurd- 
ity of this. Darkness like that ia Egypt was never 
seen before nor since. 

Pharaoh again cried out to Moses to get out of the 
country, he and all his people; but it was of no use, 
the Lord hardened his heart again, that he might have 
further opportunity of showing his power, and he 
caused Pharaoh to still hold the Israelites. The next 
thing done was to destroy all the first-born in the land. 
** And it came to pass at midnight the Lord smote all 
the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born 
of Pharaoh that sat on the throne, unto the first-born 
of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the 
first-born of the cattle." This is the third time these 
poor cattle were killed. This, indeed, made a saa 
time in Eg:ypt. Pharaoh was up in the night, as well 
a-s all the Egyptians, and they made a great cry, for 



THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 7 

there was not a house in the land in which there was 
not one dead. 

This time the king called upon Moses more earnest- 
ly than ever, to get out of the country, and take all 
the flocks and herds that belonged to him and his peo- 
ple. Moses took him at his word, and, before the 
Lord had time to harden Pharaoh's heart again, and 
in one day's time, Moses and 600,000 of the Israelites 
packed up all their goods, and with their flocks and 
herds got out of the country, though not until they 
had borrowed of the Egyptians all their jewels of 
gold and silver, and all their best raiment. 

In ail the annals of the world, 600,000 people never 
before effected such rapid movements, as to pack up 
all they possessed and get out of the country at so 
short a notice. But it must have been so, for the book 
says **the self-same day the Lord did bring the chil- 
dren of Israel out of the land of Egypt. " 

Infidels and skeptics may wonder how God, who is 
alike Father of all nations, should authorize the Israel- 
ites to dishonestly take the gold and silver jewels of 
the Egyptians, as well as all their fine wearing appar- 
el; but Christians can easily understand it, for their 
8y?item is founded upon ethics of partiality and favor- 
itism, some being blessed and made happy, while oth- 
ers are damned and made wretched. 

To an ordinary ** wicked "person, it would seem 
that if the Lord really wanted the children of Israel to 
get out of Egypt, he was unnecessarily cruel, in re. 
tarding the business by hardening Pharaoh's heart so 
often, and making it necessary to afflict a people in- 
nocent at least of Pharaoh's obduracy, with so many 
dire calamities, to say nothiug of the cattle so often 
Killed. It would have saved an untold amount of suf- 



x" 



t^ 8 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 



I 



fering and distress if he had not hardened Pharaoh's 
heart so often, and had let him act out his natural 
disposition. But as God seemed to want an opportu 
nity to show his power in sending plagues and afflic- 
tions, perhaps we ought to think it was all kindness 
and love on his part to do just as he did. If the 
Eiryptians were equally his children with the Jews, it 
perhaps follows that he should afflict them, kill thei" 
cattle, and put them to death, if he saw fit to do so 
We are told that '^ God^s ways are not as man's ways,'' 
and that they are ** past finding out." All we havo 
to do is to ** have faith, ^^ and to believe every wort^ 
the book and the good clergy tell us; for, ** to doub' 
is to be damned." 

For ourselves, however, we shall exercise the lib 
erty of doubting the entire narrative, and not onl^ 
believe that the Universal Father never performed 
any of these cruelties, but that he never wrote them, 
nor caused anyone else to write them; and we re- 
joice that the intelligent people of the world are get- 
ting their eyes open to the absurdity of believing that 
such silly stories are the words of God, If such tales 
were told of the present time, none could be found to 
believe them, and they are no truer for having been 
handed down from an age when the best historical 
accounts were greatly blended with fable and exag- 
geration, and when men falsely claimed to converse 
with God face to face. We believe none converse 
with Deity now, but they do just as much as was 
ever done. All can see him alike, and it is idle for 
men to claim that they have special favors in this 
respect. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 11.] 



Korah,Datham and Abiram. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Jn looking over the Bible narratives, we find many 
tvonderful stories, and many instances where the 
Lord became angry and committed great slaughter 
ind devastation among his chosen people. We will 
tiere instance the one of the insurrection of Korah, 
Datham and Abiram, who, tiring of the protracted 
journey through the wilderness, and at the dictatorial 
and imperious rule of Moses, incited a mutiny in the 
jamp, and induced some two hundred and fifty others 
to join them in demonstrations of opposition to the 
tyranny of Moses. When Moses learned this, he be 
came very much excited and fell in anger to the earth. 
It may be supposed he had something like, an apo 
plectic or a cateleptic fit. He appointed a meeting on 
the following day. When it occurred, Moses again 
became very angry and filled with wrath. It is prob 
able he had another attack of vertigo, or pressure ol 
blood to the head. He held a short conversation 
with the Lord, in which he enjoined that kind bein^ 
to respect not the offerings^ of the mutineers. 



2 KORAH, DATHAM AND ABIRAM. 

After separating the faitHful from the unfaithful 
and after the amiable Moses had spoken a few words 
to the assembly, the *' ground clave assunder that was 
under them, and the earth opened her mouth and 
swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men 
that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods." 
They all went down into the pit together, when the 
earth closed again over them, and, as a matter of 
course, they '^utterly perished.'' ''And there," also, 
it is said, "came out a fire from the Lord and con- 
sumed the two hundred and fifty men that oflered in- 
cense." 

These were heroic measures, truly. The offense in 
the eyes of Moses and the Lord, (they seemed, indeed, 
to have a good understanding in the matter,) was of 
an alarming character, and they seemed to be very 
angry about it. That probably explains the terrible 
character of the punishment inflicted. This must 
have been an aggravated case, for Moses and the Lord 
were both angry. It was customary for Moses to 
hold his temper when the Lord became angry, and 
often, when the latter had it in his heart to destroy 
his people utterly, and to wipe them from the face of 
the earth, Moses, by his persuasive style of reasoning, 
showed the Lord the foolishness of such conduct, 
and how the surrounding nations would laugh at him; 
how, after he had put himself to so much trouble to 
bring his people out of Egypt, and through the Red 
Sea on dry land, and to keep them so many years alive 
with manna sent daily from heaven, it would be rash 
and foolish, on his part, to thus destroy them ; and 
we learn by the book that ** Moses would not let the 
Lord destroy Israel.'* 

It was truly fortunate for the Israelites and their 



KORAH, DATHAM AND ABIRAM. 3 

posterity, that on most occasions Moses was able to 
hold his temper and remain placid when the Lord be- 
came so enraged with anger and wrath, and thus be 
able to hold a check upon the Lord, and prevent him, 
on many occasions, from playing '* general smash " 
with his people. But in the case under considera- 
tion, where his own rule and authority were op- 
posed, his wrath, also, waxed extremely hot; he 
was not disposed to hold the Lord back at all, 
and the only wonder is that a few hundred only 
were destroyed, when the aid of both earthquakes 
and heavenly fire were invoked. If the earth open- 
ed its mouth and took that number in, why not 
open it wider, while about it, and take a large mouth- 
ful ? When this fire from the Lord was loose among 
the congregation and consumed them, why stop at two 
hundred and fifty? It must be attributed to the pos- 
sibility that on this occasion the Lord was, fortunately 
not so angry as Moses was ; the revolt was more par- 
ticularly against Moses than against God, hence, i er- 
haps, the comparative small destruction of life. 

''But on the morrow, all the congregation of the 
children of Israel murmured against Moses and 
against Aaron, saying: *ye have killed the people of 
the Lord!' and it came to pass when the congregation 
was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that 
they looked toward the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory 
of the Lord appeared." This appearance of God's 
glory portended mischief, and it is to be inferred he 
was much more angry than on the previous day ; for 
the destruction of life was immensely greater. The 
Lord spoke to Moses and notified him to get out from 
among the congregation, that he might consume them 



4 KORAH, DATHAM AND ABIRAM. 

all in a moment. This time his anger was, doubtless, 
raised to fever heat; for a fire or plague, (the account 
is not very clear in stating which it was,) went out 
from the Lord, and slew immediately, fourteen thou- 
sand and seven hundred persons. 

The destruction of life on this occasion, would, in 
all probability, have been much greater had not Moses 
been a little cooler-headed than on the previous day. 
He saw in a moment that the Lord meant business, 
and by a simple device — the sending of Aaron with a 
censor containing incense and fire, to go out among 
the congregation and make atonement for the people, 
great destruction was averted. The inference is, 
when the fumes or odor of this burning incense 
reached the olfactories of the Lord, it immediately 
pacified his anger and checked the destruction of life; 
for when Aaron thus ** stood between the dead and 
living, the plague was stayed." But for this timely 
device of Moses, there is no telling to what extent the 
work of destruction might have gone. It might have 
reached the number of fifty thousand, or seventy 
thousand, as it did on other occasions when the Lord 
became enraged and no one stepped in to hold him 
back. As it was, the people, doubtless, could not 
feel very grateful for his visit ; and if the ** glory " 
which was seen at that time over the tabernacle por- 
tended the destruction of near fifteen thousand peo 
pie, they, doubtless, wished it would not present it 
self there very often. A funeral of fifteen thousand, 
at one time, was probably more extensive than agree- 
able. 

These stories of the Lord's becoming angry and 
slaying his people in this wholesale manner, is very 
derogatory to the character of a first-class deity, and 



KOKAn, DATIIAM AND ABIRAM. 5 

oelittles and vilifies the Supreme Power that pervades 
the Universe. It seems almost blasphemous and sac- 
rilegious to charge a God of love — abeneflcient Prov- 
idence with such extreme cruelty, malice and vindic- 
tiveness. It is more fitted to the character of a de- 
mon ; and no devil nor demon is known at the present 
time who would be guilty of such conduct. The usual 
argument that ** God made the people, and had a right 
to do what he pleased with them," fails to rationalize 
such conduct No reasonable God would allow him- 
self to fly into fits of rage and anger and slay indis- 
criminately fifteen to seventy thousand persons at one 
time for the offense of an individual, and who, too, 
was permitted to go without punishment himself. 

These stories about God's getting angry and becom* 
ing so malicious, so blood-thirsty and destructive, 
that he caused the earth to open its mouth, swallow 
up a body of its people, and then close its mouth 
again, partakes so much of the character of the fa- 
bles, exaggerations and fictions of a barbarous age, 
that we cannot accept them as truth, far less as hav- 
ing been written or dictated by God. In fact, we can- 
not believe them at all. We see nothing of this kind 
occurring now. We sometimes have shocks of an 
earthquake, houses are thrown down, and, in some 
instances, cracks or fissures occur ; but we understand 
now that these are all the results of natural causes and 
conditions, and that the earth never opens its mouth 
like a huge beast and closes it again, taking in at 8 
gulp, large numbers of people. The same ever-per- 
vading laws that govern* the Universe to-day, gov- 
erned it four thousand years ago, and four hundred 
thousand years as well, and these laws, or this Su- 
Dreme Power, if you choose to so denominate it, is ixu- 



6 ^ KORAH, DATHAM AND ABIRAM. 

changeable in character; it does not ** get mad, '*^ it 
does not fly into a rage; it is not malicious; it is not 
vindictive ; it is not destructive, and all stories and 
fables accusing it of these monstrosities are utterly 
unworthy of belief. 



The Truth Seeker Tracts. 

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distribution. Too many of them cannot be spread broad- 
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Published by D. M. BENNETT. 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



TRUTH SEEKER LEAFLETS, 

Containing two pages each of terse, trenchant reading 
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Price by mail. 4 cts. per doz. ; 25 cts. per hundred ; $2.0( 
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[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. i2.J 



BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the many * * big stories " with which the 
Bible abounds may be included that of Balaam and 
his ass (or his jennet, for it was a female ass), and the 
conversation she held with her master. This is the 
only instance in the whole history of the world, in- 
cluding the animal kingdom, of an ass speaking hu- 
man language. Asses and mules have a language of 
their own, if the noise they make may be dignified 
with that title, but while it is very sonorous, it is not 
regarded as being musical or possesing much varia- 
tion. Neither has it been regarded as exhibiting 
special intelligence. 

The formation of sounds constituting human lan- 
guage requires a peculiar set of organs, which alone 
are found in man, and hence it is an utter impossibiU 
ity for hoi:ses, cattle, dogs, and all other kinds of 
animals to make the various sounds and connect 
them together, which constitute a human language, 
and no amount of education or practice on the part 
of animals can overcome this difficulty. Parrots are 



BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 



« 



about the only exception to the rule ; they have the 
faculty of imitating various sounds, and can be taught 
to articulate words and thus imitate human speech. 
So, asses, though they have no deficiency of lung 
power, are lacliing in the essential organs for modu- 
lating and connecting sounds, and they will never be 
able to utter human language. Our remarks apply 
only to four-legged asses ; there are many of the two- 
legged kind that not only possess the organs of 
speech, but use them, also, to such extent that many 
who have been compelled to listen to their braying, 
have heartily wished they conld talk no better than 
their four-legged namesakes. 

^sop, who lived some four thousand years ago, 
and who taught excellent moral lessons by .means of 
fables, often represented asses, lions, cattle, dogs, and 
other animals and birds as using human speech, and 
he often caused them to utter sound sense and wis- 
dom. He knew, however, his readers would under* 
stand his recitals were mere fables, and that no one 
would for a moment think those animals really talked. 

Charles Dickens, of our own time, used to draw 
largely upon his imagination in the stories he wrote. 
If he did not say that animals used human speech, in 
his fancy he converted the merest shadows, articles of 
furniture, andirons, shovels and tongs and various 
other household goods into human beings, and made 
them talk, and often with excellent sense too ; but 
after all, he knew nobody would believe these were 
really human beings, or that they used human speech,, 
but that they would understand in a moment, that he 
was only letting his fancy have a little innocent play 
for a specific purpose. 

How often have many of us in our childhood days. 



BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 8 

witnessed the effects of imagination, when alone in 
the dark, either out of doors or within ; how, impel- 
led by fear, trees, stumps, posts and other objects 
assumed human shape; the slightest movement of a 
limb would fill our imagination with ghosts and hob- 
goblins, and in the sighing of the wind through 
cracks and crevices often we heard human voices. 
As we arrived at years of discretion, however, these 
fancies took their flight, having no more existence, in 
fact, than '* the baseless fabric of a dream." 

This Bible story differs from all these. This is 
given us as a bona fde fact, and priests tell us it is 
divine truth, penned even by the hand of God him- 
self, and must be believed. Let us look at it a mo- 
ment and see if it appears probable. That which is 
divine ought at least to possess probability. No one 
knows who wrote the account. Our Christian friends 
attribute it to Moses, but they have not the slightest 
authority for doing so, and even if he did write it, we 
cannot see why we should believe him, as he was not 
present to know the events he was writing about. 
This total uncertainty as to who wrote the story is 
quite sufficient, with the improbability of its truth, to 
excite our strongest suspicions as to its fabulous char- 
acter. 

It seems while the Israelites were journeying to- 
wards the land of Canaan, they came in among other 
nations and tribes of people, who, from the aggres- 
sive character of the Israelites feared and dreaded 
them. Balak, king of the Moabites, was greatly an- 
noyed by their presence, and wished to gain some 
advantage over them, and for this purpose sent some 
of his princes to Balaam, a prophet of Midian, to 
come over and curse the Israelites for his benefit. 



BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 



I 



Balaam did not belong to God's chosen people, but 
nevertheless seemed to be on very good terms with 
him, and held direct conversation with him. When 
the king of Moab sent for Balaam, God went to him 
and asked him what those men wanted. Balaam, 
like an honest man, told God the facts in the case, 
that Balak wanted him to go over and give Israel a 
good cursing. Then God told Balaam he should not 
go, neither should he curse his people, for they were 
blessed. So Balaam, the next morning, sent word to 
Balak that he could not go over. 

Upon receiving this intelligence, Balak sent over 
more princes of a still higher grade and urged Balaam 
still more strongly to come over, ofiering to confer 
great honors upon him if he would come. Balaam 
however was unmoved and replied, if Balak would 
give him a house full of gold and silver, he would do 
and say no more than God authoiized. He, however, 
begged the messengers to wait over night, that he 
might see God again and have another conversation 
with him upon the subject. God held another inter- > 
view wath Balaam that night and he told him to go 
with the men when he arose in the morning, and that 
he would be there and direct him in what he should 
say and do. So in the morning, in accordance with 
God's instructions, Balaam saddled his ass and went 
with the princes of Moab. But here we have another , 
instance of God's fickle and changeable character ; 
though he had lust a few hours before told Balaam to 
go, yet no sooner had he, the Prophet, yielded to 
these instructions, and while he was even on hi« way, 
God's anger was kindled very suddenly, and he be- 
came greatly incensed toward Balaam for doing just 
what he told him to do, and he had one of his an- 



BALAAM AND HIS ASa 5 

gels stand in the road for an adversary, so as to pre- 
vent Balaam and his two servants from passing. This 
disagreeable habit of flying into a passion upon the 
most trifling provocation, as so often narrated in the 
Bible, which troubled God so frequently, was one 
which cannot be recommended for human beings to 
imitate. It is far better, under all circumstances, to 
keep cool and unruflSed, 

There was one fact connected with this afl^air which 
seems singular. Although Balaam appeared to be a 
man remarkably favored of God, and had several in- 
terviews and conversations with him, yet he was far 
inferior to his ass in spiritual discernment. She saw 
the angel, but her master could not. That was truly 
a remarkable ass ; she could not only talk, but could 
see spirits. She must have been a ** medium. " She 
seems, however, to have been afraid of the angel, for 
when she saw it, she turned out of the road and went 
into the fields. It was Balaam's turn to get angry 
noTv, and he struck Jenny to turn her back into the 
road ; but as Balaam and the ass were passing close to 
& vineyard wall, the angel appeared again before the 
ass and caused her to shie up to the wall and crush 
Balaam's foot, when, in a rage, he beat her again* 
Farther on, in a very narrow pass, where there was 
barely room for the ass, the angel again placed him- 
self before her, and as she could neither turn to the 
right nor to the left, she fell down, and probably Ba- 
laam fell off, for now he got very angry again and 
smote the ass with a staff. At this juncture God in- 
terfered and opened Jenny's mouth, and she talked 
and asked hor master what she had done to cause him 
to beat her these three times. Balaam did not seem 
at all surprised to hear his ass talk thus, and simply 



6 BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 

replied that he had beat her because she had mocked 
him, and regretted that he had not a sword with liim 
that he might kill her at once. The ass then asked 
him if she was not his ass, and whether she had ever 
misbehaved before, and he acknowledged she had not. 
Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he too saw 
the angel with a sword in his hand, and he immedi- 
ately fell on his face. The angel put him through a 
short catechism and reproved him for his conduct. 
He also told Balaam if the ass had not turned out of 
the way as she did, he (the angel) would have slain 
Balaam and kept the ass alive. Balaam, fearing he 
had been doing wrong, proposed to turn back and 
not pursue his journey farther, but the angel told him 
to go on with the men. 

Now this is all a singular story. That God should 
interest himself so greatly in a matter of no more ap- 
parent consequence ; that he should hold conversa- 
tions with Balaam, and talk to him as one man would 
talk to another, is entirely different from what he 
does now-a-days. Then his being under the necessity 
of asking Balaam what the men wanted, seems a little 
odd. God, who knows everything, would not seem to 
be under the necessity of doing this. What great 
difference could it make whether Balaam cursed 
Israel or not? If God had blessed him and did not 
want curses should fall upon him, could he not do just 
as he pleased about it? Then after conferring with 
Balaam and telling him to go, it seems weak in 
him, that he should fly in a passion at him for going. 
A. man with merely a small allowance of reason, 
would hardly act so absurdly ; but the Bible makes 
God to get very angry on a great many occasions on 
the slightest provocation, and to do many things 



BALAAM AND HIS A88. 7 

which a man with half sense would be ashamed of. 
Then obstructing the way so the ass could not get 
I along, causing her to be beat three times, and crush- 
' ing Balaam's foot, really seems like ** small business*' 
for God to be engaged in, especially with no greater 
apparent reason. The story says he made the ass to 
talk, and as it was probably the only time that such a 
Deast ever did talk, it would seem she ought to have 
uttered something more important. All she said was 
CO ask Balaam what he whipped her for, and whether 
she had not always served him faithfully ? 

As it was so easy for God and Balaam to converse 
together, it appears wholly unnecessary for God to 
perform such a miracle, to make a beast speak which 
had no organs of speech, merely to ask two or three 
simple, unimportant questions. God does not do such 
things now, but the priests tell us his ways are mys- 
terious and past finding out. Nothing seems to have 
been gained by all this trouble and detention; for Ba- 
laam was told to go on according to the programme 
laid out. When he met Balak, he had the latter build 
in all, twenty-one altars, and offer on each an ox and 
a ram to get God in a good humor, so that he might 
put into his mouth what he should say, but blessings 
on the Israelites where Balak wanted cursings, was all 
that came of it. This shows one thing, that building 
altars and oflering oxen and sheep to the Lord, to pro- 
duce a favorable influence, was not peculiar to the 
Israelites, for the heathen around them had the same 
fashion. We also see that heathen prophets had ac. 
oess to God, and talked with him the same as the most 
favored of God's people. 

The question that naturally arises: why did God 
open the ass' mouth and give it human speech? Was 



BALAAM AND HIS ASS. 

r 

it because Balaam had beat her? If it was for that 
reason, why does he not now open the mouths of asses, 
horses, mules, oxen and brutes of all kinds when 
they are whipped, and so cruelly abused by hard- 
hearted man? If he did not give Jenny human speech 
for that purpose, what in the world was it for? Did 
he get before her to cause her to shie and crnsh Ba- ! 
laam's foot that he might beat her, that her mouth 
might be opened and she ask Balaam why he did thus? | 
The conundrum is too great, we give it up; the mys* ' 
tery is too deep; we will not try to fathom it. 

Balaam seems to have been a ^ood sort of man and 
doubtless tried to do as God wanted him to do, but nev- 
ertheless, in a short time after this he was cruelly 
murdered with the five kings of Midian, and all the 
men of the nation, at the time God authorized Moses 
to send twelve thousand men to utterly destroy them 
and devastate the country. 

There are a good many points in this story we would 
like to notice, but we will have to let them pass. Qui 
article is already too lengthy. In closing we will just 
say, we are willing anybody should believe this story 
who wants to. For our part we think it is altogether 
too silly and childish, to believe for a moment that the 
Deity that rules all worlds and pervades every parti- 
cle of matter in the Universe, either ever had anything 
to do in the asinine events here narrated, or in writ 
ing or dictating such a senseless, preposterous story. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 13.] 



Arraignment of Priestcraft. 



• BY D. M. BENNETT. 



As far back in the ages of antiquity, as we have any 
account of the human race, we find there has been a 
class of men who have claimed peculiar privileges, 
have assumed authority over their fellow-men; have 
] insisted upon being obeyed and revered ; have re- 
quired support from their more industrious brethren, 
and have demanded immunity from the menial and 
laborious avocations of life. They have in all ages 
claimed to have direct authority from the gods; and 
they have assumed that they were delegated and 
commissioned by these gods to proclaim to their fel- 
low-men what was required of them, and they have 
professed to have more iDfluence with these mysteri- 
ous deities than all the world besides. 

They have in fact been the inventors and manufac- 
turers of gods ; mankind has known little or nothing 
relative to these gods save what this privileged aristoc- 
racy have told them. They have managed the busi- 



2 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

nes& SO adroitly that they have maintained great and 
almost supreme control over the minds and bodies of 
their fellow-men, and by threats, invectives, and 
denunciations have succeeded marvelously in keeping 
the human race in an abject condition of ignorance, 
terror, and slavery. 

It has been their object and aim to hold the masses 
in ignorance, to discountenance investigation and in, 
quiry, and they have assumed the right to tell their 
fellow-men all they needed to know about the gods in 
heaven, as well as demons in hell. They have virtu- 
ally said to their dupes: ** It is unnecessar/ f or you to 
appi^ach the gods, or have intercourse with them, we 
will act for you, and will say to the gods all that needs 
\o be said, and will proclaim to you their will and 
commands, and this is all you need to know. For 
the^e disinterested services on our part, we claim 
of you in return, implicit obedience, unquestion" 
ing submission, and devout veneration, and we mod- 
estly demand that you give us the first fruits of your 
fields, the fattest of your flocks, the finest of your 
linens, silks, wools and furs, for ourselves and our 
families. We, of course, expect you to be unstinted 
in your donations, and that you will look to us as 
your mediators, your law-givers, your guides and 
rulers. Remember, we demand humble submission 
on your part to all our claims ; and failing in this, the 
curses of the gods and the judgments of heaven will 
be hurled upon you." 

This privileged class of which we are speaking, 
have been known in the world as Priests, though other 
appellations have frequently been applied to them ; 
sometimes Fakirs, sometimes Oracles, sometimes 
Dervises, sometimes Seers and Prophets, sometimes 



I 



JtRRAlGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 3 

Monks and Friars, sometimes Fathers and Elders, 
sometimes Bishops and Prelates, and sometimes 
Cardinals and Popes. In modern times they have 
been termed Ministers, Preachers, Pastors, Clergymen, 
Reverends, and Divines. They have been numerous 
in all systems of religion, and in all varieties of be- 
lief. Of the three thousand different creeds inflicted 
upon the human family, all have had their Priests — 
their *'holy men " — men who have professed to know 
all about God and the unknown world, and have as- 
sumed to impart this knowledge to their credulous 
followers. 

They have in all ages been a non-producing class ; 
who have neither cultivated the earth nor tended the 
flocks. They have always lived upon the labor and 
toil of others, and have absolutely been dead weights 
and ** dead beats '' in the society of the world, feeding 
upon the best the earth afforded, and scarcely lifting 
a finger to produce a peck of wheat, a measure of 
corn, a pint of beans or a hill of potatoes. 

They have not only originated the thousands of dif- 
ferent gods believed in, in all ages of the world, but 
as many systems of religion with which humanity has 
been cursed. Nor is this the least evil they have in- 
flicted on the race ; they have been the inciters of dis- 
sensions, the promoters of discord, the instigators of 
persecutions, and in thousands of cases the prime 
movers in wars, carnage, and bloodshed. They have 
evinced the most cruel, merciless, blood-thirsty and 
fiendish traits ever known in human character. They 
have committed and caused to be committed murders 
without number, both in public and private. They 
have instigated, in their plenitude of priestly power, 
the most bloody and devastating wars the world has 



4 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. ' 

• 

known, and have caused rivers, yes, oceans of human 
blood to be spilled, sparing neither the helpless 
mother nor her sucking infant. 

As great a curse as king-craft has been to the human 
race, priestcraft has been a thousand times greater. 
True, kings have subdued nations, devastated popu- 
lous and happy countries, destroyed the labors and 
wealth of many people, rolled back for centuries the 
wheels of progress and civilization, and have drenched 
the earth in human blood ; but Priests have done all 
this and more. They have incited kings and tyrants to 
the wars and slaughters they have committed ; they 
have inflamed the passions of the ignorant masses, 
and led them on in the work of carnage, bloodshed 
and death. They have instigated not only the most 
needless and cruel wars of which we have any ac- 
count, but the most fiendish massacres, assassinations, 
and murders that have ever been committed. 

Who, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries instiga. 
ted the wars of the Crusades against the Mohamme- 
dans of the East, the Moors of Spain, the Waldenses 
and Hugenots of France, and the Albigenses of Pied 
mont, by which millions of human beings were slain, 
and human blood enough spilled to float all the ships 
of the world ? It was Priests, and in their interests 
was the whole demoniac, bloody work prosecuted. 

Who was it in the thirteenth century instituted and 
conducted the infernal Inquisition for the trial and 
punishment of Heretics, which was kept up for five 
hundred years, and before which hellish court were 
dragged, at all hours of the day and night, countless 
numbers of innocent, defenceless persons, and where 
by unutterable cruelties of the rack, the wheel, pinch- 
ers, thumb-screws, the fagot and fire and nameless 



AKRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 5 

other diabolical inventions, they were made to con- 
fess crimes they never committed, and when, without 
a chance of making a defence, or of confronting their 
accusers, hundreds of thousands of these hapless, 
helpless mortals were forced out of the world by the 
infliction of the most terrible^ tortures of which the 
mind can conceive ? It was Priests — men who 
claimed to be holier than other men, and to be the 
mediators between God and man. 

Who, in the sixteenth century deluged the Nether- 
lands in human gore, and in shameless reference to 
those abominable persecutions that incarnate fiend of 
the Romish Church, Alva, boasted of having person- 
ally caused the death of thirty-six thousand defence- 
less men and women to say nothing of the burnings, 
roastings, slaughters, and assassinations of numerous 
others without even the color of law ? It was Priests, 
ever true to their enmity to the human race. 

Who were the authors and instigators of the noto- 
rious massacre on St. Bartholomew's day in Paris, in 
1572, when forty thousands of innocent people, men, 
women, and children, were cruelly murdered and dur- 
ing the three succeeding days in other parts of France 
twenty thousand more of poor unfortunate beings were 
wantonly assassmated, and for which abominable 
slaughter, the Pope ordered special thanksgiving to 
be rendered in his churches and Te Deums and 
masses to be performed ? It was PRIESTS, still true 
to their historical, bloody character. 

Many similar fiendish and inhuman crimes have 
they been guilty of, both on a large and small scale 
but we cannot now stop to mention a tithe of them. 
History, however, is full of such recitals and instances 
without number can be given if desired. 



6 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAET. 

An English writer upon this subject says : ** Three 
hundred million of human beings have been sacrificed 
by Christian Priests on the pretext of working for 
God," and he quotes this passage from Hosia vi. 9, 
* ' For as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the com- 
pany of priests murder in the way by consent." 

As many thousands and millions of innocent lives 
that Priests have been the means of taking without 
show of reason or justice, as much as they have done 
toward destroying the peace and quietness of families, 
communities, and nations, the greatest evil they have 
done to the world has been in the darkness they have 
cast over the minds of men and women, and in the 
clogs and brakes they have fastened upon the wheels 
of the car of progress, science, and civilization. 

Under the divine authority from the gods which 
they have represented, they have taught and enjoined 
the most pernicious doctrines. They have made 
Deity appear to mankind as a cruel, blood-thirsty 
monster ; they have compelled their dupes to accept 
the most abhorrent creeds and dogmas ; they have 
discouraged and prohibited free thought and free in- 
vestigation ; they have retarded and kept back for 
thousands of years the advance of science, truth and 
mental freedom. They have promoted ignorance and 
opposed education ; they have favored tyranny and op- 
pression, and have fought to the bitter end, liberty 
and civilization. They have dwarfed the human in- 
tellect ; they have spread and hel 1 a pall of darkness 
and gloom over the entire world, and have obscured 
the sun of light and truth and progress. They have 
bound fetters and shackles upon deluded human be- 
ings, and doomed them to lives of the most abject 
slavery. They have claimed to be the best friends of 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 7 

the human race, but have really been its worst 
enemies. They have prated much about God and 
heaven, but their rule and influence have rivaled the 
worst conceptions of the devil and hell. They have 
taxed the people of the world to the extent of thous- 
ands of millions of dollars — impoverishing individuals, 
ruining families, and exhausting nations, for the ser- 
vices they claimed to be heavenly and God-inspired, 
while their conduct has absolutely been of the char- 
acter of demons incarnate. 

Our language to some may seem somewhat extrava. 
gant, but it is simply the truth, and we have not utter- 
ed a thousandth part of what can be said in perfect 
keeping with the facts of history. It is our wish to 
misstate or overstate nothing. The truth, in all con- 
science, is bad enough, and there is not the slightest 
necessity for drawing upon the imagination. It is 
truly an appalling thought to realize the wrongs this 
class of men have perpetrated upon humanity, and 
how much they have retarded the progress of the 
race. When it is remembered how many iniquities 
and absurdities they have fastened upon the human 
intellect, it is enough to make the '* blood of an hon- 
est man boil," and cause him to curse them as the 
most unmitigated enemies that poor human nature has 
had to contend with. 

If the wealth of which priests have robbed the 
world ; if the exactions they have laid upon mankind ; 
if the time, toil, and effort which they have used in 
binding upon the minds and consciences of men de- 
basing creeds, degrading dogmas, and worse than use- 
less doctrines, had been used in enlightening mankind, 
in elevating their views and opinions, ii^ establishing 
schools of science, of art, and of truth ; in promulga- 



8 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

ting the principles of peace, benevolence and frater- 
nity, what a paradise this priest-ridden world would 
now be — how infinitely better and happier the human 
family would be to-day. Why, if we simply had the 
money that has been paid to these Priests iov forgiving 
sinSj for praying souls out of purgatory, for performing 
masses for the dead, and for granting indulgences 
to their simple dupes to commit immoral conduct, we 
could build a school-house in every township in the 
United States, and an asylum for destitute widows 
and homeless orphans in every county in the land. If 
we had the hard-earned treasures that have been 
wrung from the patient and deluded people by these 
Priests for teaching creeds that are vain, and dogmas 
that are false, together with the cost of temples, pa- 
godas, mosques, cathedrals, and churches that have 
been built at their dictation, we could erect a hall 
of science and education in every town and village in 
the habitable world — we could reclaim all the waste 
and swamp lands in the United States — make commo- 
dious highways in every neighborhood, and construct 
railroads and telegraph lines leading to and connecting 
every city, town, and hamlet. 

It may be claimed that Priestcraft presented its 
worst features in olden times, before the introduction 
of the Christian religion. This is not so. Though 
the Jewish Priests were culpable in the extreme, and 
some of them specimens of depravity in human form, 
though many of the pagan Priests were ignorant, bar- 
barous, and cruel, it was the Christian priesthood 
which transcended all others in crimes, depravity, 
and horror; and if in the last three centuries they 
have materiaHjr improved, it has not arisen from any 
inherent virtue or goodness within themselves or 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 9 

their iustitution, but because the world has advanced 
in spite of them, and they have been compelled to 
measurably keep pace with the progress of the age. 
As we remarked, they opposed science, education, 
and mental liberty, and persecuted students of learn- 
ing as long and as effectually as in their power, but 
by degrees they have been compelled to yield to these 
civilizing and elevating influences, until now they fain 
♦ would claim they have all along really been the 
patrons of science and education. Nothing can be 
further removed from justness and truth than this 
claim. 

We do not for a moment assert that there have been, 
and are, no sincere, honest men among the clergy, nor 
that many are not aiming to do their duty according 
to their best understanding, and are commendable ex- 
ceptions to the general rule, but we do claim, they are 
engaged in teaching falsehoods and errors the world 
would be better without, and that their influence has 
been most baneful in the past, and is mischevious and 
hurtful in the present. They have not made the world 
moral in the past, and they are not making it moral to- 
day. Let mankind be fully educated in the truths of 
science, and in the superiority of fraternal, human 
conduct toward their fellow-men, without regard to 
invisible gods or devils which have no existence in 
fact, and the world would be vastly more moral than 
now. They would be fully able to do their own think- 
ing and praying, and have i^^ the slightest use for a 
pampered, designing, and most expensive Priesthood. 

As greatly as the world has improved, as much as 
the Priesthood have advanced, they really have no 
superiority in morality and virtue over other men. 
They surely have an equal greed for gold, an equal 



10 ARRAIGN iklEXT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

anxiety for applause, as great a desire for power and 
domain, as much fondness for pleasure, as liable to in- 
dulge in passion, and as ready to yield to temptation 
as any class of men in the world. 

They are as artful, as designing, and use as much 
cunning and finesse in achieving their purposes and in 
carrying out their plans as any portion of humanity. 
In yitjlding to improper influences, in weakness in 
withstanding the besetments of life, and in their pron^ 
ness to wrong and culpable conduct, they are not sur- 
passed by any portion of their fellow-men. They 
claim to be better, holier and purer, but these claims 
are baseless and false. They have abundantly proved 
themselves unfit conscience keepers for their fellow 
men, and that in virtue, morality, and manhood they 
possess no superiority. Their partiality for tender, 
yellow -legged cLickens and pretty women has passed 
into a proverb. 

Sir Godfrey Higgins, author of '* Anacalypsis, '* and 
the ** Celtic Druids," thus accords to the priesthood 
their true character : '*0f all the evils that escaped 
from Pandora's box the institution of Priesthoods was 
the worst. Priests have been the curse of the world. 
And if we admit the merits of many of those of our 
own time to be as pre-eminent above ali others as the 
espirit de corps of the most self- contented individual of 
the order may incite him to consider them ; great as I 
am willing to allow the merits of individuals to be, I 
will not allow that th^f orm exceptions strong enough 
to destroy the genera^ature of the rule. Look at 
China ; at the festival of Juggernaut ; the Crusades ; 
the massacres of St. Bartholomew ; of the Mexicans, 
and the Peruvians ; the fires of the Inquisition ; of 
Mary, Cranmer, Calvin, and of the Druids! Look at 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 11 

Ireland ; look at Spain; in short look every where, and 
everywhere you will see the priests reeking with gore. 
They have converted populous and happy nations into 
deserts; and have transformed our beautiful world into 
a slaughter-house, drenched with blood and tears." 

Many honest persons labor under the mistake that 
American clergymen are the most moral portion of the 
community, and that their minds are so absorbed in 
contemplating heavenly themes and divine commands, 
that they never do or think anything impure, sensual, 
or wrong. A greater mistake is not made. A large 
percentage of them are influenced by base passions 
and carnal desires. They are found to yield as readily 
to base influences as any class of men. The main 
difference between them and other men is, they are 
more shrewd in concealing their improper conduct 
and are so familiar with duplicity and hypocritical 
cant that they are able to put on the most gracious ex- 
terior and the most sanctimonious expression of coun- 
tenance when they have just left a sensual debauch or 
have accomplished the ruin of some inexperienced 
maiden or simple-minded sister. 

Father John W. Gerdemann, ex-Catholic priest of 
St. Bouifacius Church in Philadelphia, after renounc- 
ing the hypocritical priest-life he had lived for ten 
years, in a lecture delivered to an immense audience 
in that city, in the summer of 1875, drew this faithful 
picture of the false-hearted fraternity he had for- 
saken. 

**I come now to the last great blot on the character 
of the Roman clergy, which you will allow me to treat 
in a cursory manner out of respect to the audience I 
have the honor to address. Priests are not allowed 
to marry; would to God they were. They are called 



12 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

Fathers by the people, and unforiunately, with many 
it is not only a name but a sad. reality; not the honor- 
ed, hallowed name of father, but a name whispering 
of shame and a broJ^en heart, if not a ruined family. 
Undoubtedly the young men who are ordained priests 
are generally pure, sincere and good ; but alas ! the 
system of celibacy, at all times the bane of the Catho- 
lic ministry, too often ruins them. I spoke to a priest 
last year about this time, about getting married and 
leaving the church. He called me a fool, and advised 
me not to leave the easy life of the priesthood, but to 
do like him and keep a mistress. I thanked him for 
his advice and told him I was no dog. Bishop Wood 
told me of more than one priest in his diocese whom he 
characterized as immoral, and thoroughly bad men, 
who to this day hold their offices. Marry, forsooth, 
in an honorable way, a priest is not allowed, but ruin 
a poor girl he may. It is better, the Pope teaches, 
for a priest to have two concubines, than marry one 
woman lawfully. Shame upon such morality ! Shame 
upon the church with such teaching. 

**I repeatedly have heard good and sincere priests 
say it was a blessing the American people did not 
know the true character of the Roman priesthood, for 
if they did, they would sweep them out of the country, 
and I assure you if you should know them as I do. 
you would not consider the remark any too harsh. 
Firstly they have an inordinate desire for money. The 
poor people are asked for money at all times and 
occasions. The more a man gives the better he is 
liked. He must pay every time he comes to church, 
and every time the priest comes to him. No matter 
how poor the family may be, how hard the man may 
work, how much the mother may slave, how pooily 



ARKAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 13 

±e childien are clad, no matter whether the grocer is 
paid, the priest must have his dues. Baptisms, marri- 
ages, and funerals, must be paid for, and woe to the 
poor Catholic who offers a priest less than five dollars. 
Too much he can never give. Go to any Catholic 
church in this city, on Sunday, and ybn hear some- 
thing about money always. The more a priest returns 
to the bishop, for the seminary or other purposes, the 
higher he rises in the bishop's esteem. Provided a 
priest is sound on the money question his other quali- 
ties are of minor importance. I know over five hun- 
dred priests and sixty bishops in this country; I have 
frequently been in priests' and bishops' company and 
whenever the question came on the congregations 
they never asked, **How are your people ; are they 
temperate, faithful in attendance at church; do they 
raise their children well?" but always, *' How much 
pew rents do you set ?" '* What do your collections 
amount to ?" *' What do you get at Christmas ?" 
*' What are your fees for baptism and marriage?" and 
if the sums did not seem large enough, you would hear 
a '*Damn it, that's little." I know priests who have 
been scarce ten years in the priesthood and who own 
from $20,000 to $40,000. Aud the poor people who 
give are never told where the money goes to. No 
priest knows what the Uishop owns. No congregation 
hears what a priest receives nor how it is spent. And 
how is it spent? A good deal of it in gambling, 
cigars, grand dinners, and good drinks. Priests are 
without doubt, the best livers in the country. When- 
ever you meet a company of priests, be it on a Sun- 
day or week day, night or day time, you nearly al- 
ways find them at a game of euchre and not for mere 
pastime, but for money. I often saw, especially Irish_ 



14 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

priests, play for quarters, halves, and a dollar a game. 
The German priests were generally content with a 
game for ten cents. Then come the grand dinners, 
served in the most approved style, for which the good 
people foot the bill. Those dinners are not got up on 
a small scale, either, but cost from' $500 to $2,500. 
The bishop gives generally three or four grand din- 
ners a year, when the priests are invited, and God 
knows how many on a smaller scale. Priests give 
their dinners on stated occasions — at the funeral of a 
priest, on the day of a corner-stone laying, or the 
dedication of a new church, and annually on the last 
day of the forty hours. The poor people are in at , 
their prayers, while the good fathers are enjoying 
their terrapin, canvas- back, and champagne," 

**But the great curse of the priesthood in this 
country is the vice of drunkenness. Of the extent of 
this vice I can give you no adequate idea. When 
priests meet, the first and the last thing is a drink . 
early in the morning and late at night the whiskey 
bottle is their consolation. If you would not ofier 
whiskey and wine, and plenty of it, to your visitors, 
you would soon be spotted and cried down as a fool. 
Bishop Wood was a frequent visitor at my house, and 
said he did not want any ** Teutonic Acid," meaning 
good German wine, but insisted on having champagne. 
And let me show you that his capacity is rather a 
large one. I was traveling with him in Schuylkill 
County, three or four weeks before I left the church, 
and I will now give you his day*s work. Early that 
morning he confirmed in the German Church at St. 
Clair. After having administered confirmation a good 
breakfast was spread before him, but he did not touch 
it but asked for a bottle of wine. Good Father Froude 



AKRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 15 

was rather surprised, and said: ** Hallo! wine for 
breakfast I" After the wine was finished we went to 
the English Church. There the bishop complained of 
the poor wine of Father Froude, and asked for and 
received a bottle of champagne. After he had given 
confirmation there, a few glasses of lager beer were 
enjoyed. Then came dinner, and a good one it was, 
and he partook freely of beer, wine, champagne, and 
brandy to wash it down. Before we left St. Clair for 
Mahanoy Plane, on the Superintendent's special car, a 
few more bottles of champagne were opened and dis- 
patched by him and the priests present. Scarcely 
had we reached Father O'Connor's house when he 
asked for goat-milk punch, of which he took two or 
three glasses, afterward he followed it with a few 
glasses of champagne. Still he got through with con- 
firming about two hundred people, only complaining 
of not being quite well ; the dinner of terrapin, phea- 
sants, and other choice things served afterward, he did 
not enjoy, and he went to bed, where I brought to him 
the last glass of champagne after eleven o'clock. 
When you hear that a bishop can do so much in that 
line, and still be able to give confirmation, you will 
not be surprised to hear that bills for liquors and 
wines are large with a priest who often enjoys his 
visfts. To be serious, the greater part of the priests 
who have died in this diocese since I was ordained, 
died of too much drink, and many priests are serving 
there now, who more than once suffered from delirium 
tremens." 

'*To see priests drunk in their houses, is bad 
enough ; but how much worse, how much more 
disgraceful is it, for them to be drunk in the pulpit 
and at the altar. Even in September last, I heard 



16 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

a sermon preached at the close of the forty hours' devo* 
tion, one of the most solemn occasions in the Cath- 
olic Church, by a priest when under the influence of 
liquor. That man arrived about two o'clock in the 
afternoon completely drunk. He slept off, it is 
true, partly the effects of his debauch, still, when he 
preached at seven o'clock, he was anything but sober. 
After the ceremonies were over, he re-commenced 
his potations, mixing whiskey, beer, wine and cham- 
pagne, till he fell on the floor beastly drunk. That 
man' is in the mission to-day, pastor of a large con- 
gregation, although it is well known that not a week 
passes in which he is not drunk once or twice. On 
another occasion, a priest — who now rests in a drunk- 
ard's grave — was so completely drunk when carrying 
the wafer in procession through his Church, that I 
and another priest who acted as deacons, had to sup- 
port him to keep him from falling. I might adduce 
many more instances of the fearful intemperance as 
•prevailing among the Koman Clergy ; but I suppose 
enough has been said to convince you that temper- 
ance is a virtue almost unknown among them." 

So much from Father Gerdemann, who, for ten 
years filled a high position in the Catholic Church, 
and was regarded as a faithful priest and a bright 
light. His opportunities for observation and infor- 
mation upon the subject he discussed, were excellent, 
and his utterances must be accepted as true. 

We will now give a few paragraphs upon the 
American clergy, from ex-Rev. E. E. Guild, who 
was many years a Protestant clergyman; but who from 
honest investigation and conviction, was induced to 
abandon the profession he no longer believed it was 
right for him to follow. He is now an old man 



ABRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 17 

highly respected by those who know him, and his 
testimony may be received with all confidence. We 
quote from his* 'Pro and Con of Supernaturnl Re- 
ligion : " 

" Undoubtedly the Priesthood, like all the other 
learned professions, is composed of both good and 
bad men. But on the score of merit, it cannot justly 
claim any superiority over the others. Doubtless the 
Clergy are no better, nor any worse than the average 
of men, only so far as the false position which they 
occupy makes- them so. With them the business of 
theological and religious teaching is a profession and 
a means of obtaining a livelihood. Before they enter 
upon their work, they must, before God and man, 
make solemn professions of faith in a certain creed 
to which they are expected to adhere and defend dur- 
ing life. On their doing this, their living depends. 
They have a pecuniary interest at stake. The creed 
must be maintained, missionary work must be done, 
contributions must be raised, revival excitements must 
be gotten up, converts must be made, for all this brings 
^rist to their mill. They are conservative in their 
tendencies, opposed to all innovation, tenacious and 
bigoted in their opinions and blind to all newly dis- 
covered truth. They^ can seldom see the word 
truth, because, with them, it is covered by a dollar. 
Their occupation leads them into the practice of con- 
scious or unconscious hypocrisy. They assume a 
character before the people that they by no means 
maintain in their families, or when in company with 
each other. However grave, sanctimonious and cir- 
cumspect they may appear in public, when assembled 
in cc^ipany by themselves, they are the most jolly of 
Bf * ^he/ 'jan then crack their jokes, tell funny 



18 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAET. 

Stories, relate smutty anecdotes and indulge m low 
gossip to an extent unequaled by any except profes- 
sional libertines. They denounce human selfishness, 
and are of all men the most selfish ; declaim against 
avarice, and are mercenary and avaricious ; preach 
against pride, fashion and love of the world, and yet 
are as proud, as servile imitators of fashion, and man- 
ifest as much of the love of the world as other men. 
They insist on the necessity of self-denial, but think 
themselves entitled to the most comfortable places, 
the best bits, the choicest dainties, the lion's share of 
all the good things of life. They profess to be awful- 
ly concerned and anxious for the welfare of poor sin- 
ners, but their sleek, smooth, well-to-do appearance 
gives no indication of excessive anxiety. They claim 
that men in their natural state are totally depraved, 
and yet, in this country, at least, they profess to be- 
lieve in a free government, founded on the principle 
that the people Jiave a right to govern themselves, an 
inconsistency so glaring that it makes us suspicious 
of their sincerity. 

** The art of proselyting they understand to perfec- 
tion. This is an important part of their business. 
However ignorant they may be on all other subjects, 
this they perfectly well understand. They are in 
possession of all the accumulated experience of a 
long line of predecessors extending through all of the 
past ages. They know human nature well and how 
to take advantage of its weaknesses. They make 
their appeals to the superstitious, selfish hopes and 
fears of ignorant men, and having what Archimedes 
only wanted, another world on which to plant their 
machinery. It is no wonder that in almost all past 
time they have moved this at their pleasure. They 



ARRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 19 

tax all their ingenuity and eloquence in describing 
the beauties of a heaven about which they know 
nothing, and a hell of which they are equally igno- 
rant — the one they promise as a reward to all who 
embrace their doctrines, the other they threaten as a 
punishment to be inflicted on all who do not. In this 
way they may succeed, perhaps, in luring some and 
entrancing others, but no man was ever made really 
any better by being actuated by such selfish consid- 
erations. They condemn human selfishness and yet 
cultivate and strengthen it by making constant ap- 
peals to it. They are the greatest beggars in the 
world. Their horseleech cry of give, give, can be 
heard on the mountains and in the valleys, in the 
public streets and in the churches. At every public 
meeting ostensibly for the worship of God, the con- 
tribution box is passed around and the people are 
entreated in God's name to give. The people are as- 
sured that if they will give, God will restore to them 
four-fold, but not one of them will stand sponsor for 
the fulfillment of the promise or guarantee the refund- 
ing of the gift in case it is not. In a thousand vari- 
ety of ways vast sums of money are raised by these 
men which goes to help the warring sects to vie with 
each other in building costly churches and to support 
a class of useless drones in the human hive. 

"The same envyings and jealousies that exist among 
the members of other learned professions exist among 
them. They will unscrupulously resort to measures 
to supplant a brother in an advantageous situation, 
or in the esteem and affections of the people, which 
lawyers and physicians scorn to adopt, and have too 
great a sense of honor and manhood to think of 
adopting. If one of their number happens to become 



20 / ARKAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 

convinced of the erroneousness of his creed and has 
independence and moral courage enough to avow his 
honest opinions, the rest will pounce on him like a 
hawk upon a chicken. They will pursue him with 
misrepresentations and slander, hurl at him the epi- 
thets of ^'infidelity," **emissary of Satan," *'enemy of 
religion," call him a Judas, a renegade, an apostate, 
ostracize him from society if they can, and all to 
counteract his influence in opposition to their secta- 
rian views. On the other hand, if one of their pro- 
fession is accused of any crime, the rest of the fra- 
ternity will gather around him, form a solid phalanx, 
and shield him from exposure if they can. The pecul- 
iar position occupied by these men brings them into 
close relation to the female sex. They, knowing that 
women are more susceptible of religious as well as 
superstitious influence than men, regard them as their 
right-hand weapon of ofiensive and defensive war. 
They rely mainly on them to further their designs. 
Women, educated to believe that they must depend on 
man for support and protection, will inevitably be in- 
clined to look up to the clergy for religious guidance 
and instruction. This brings them into frequent and 
familiar intimacy with that class of men. What has 
been the result ? Not only are our sectarian churches 
made up principally of women and children, but the 
history of the priesthood in all ages and countries 
proves that by no other class of professional men have 
so many crimes against female virtue been committed 
as by them. 

**The clergy profess to look upon what they call Infi- 
delity and Materialism with the utmost horror and de- 
testation. They represent that the Materialistic doc- 
trines are destructive of all joy and peace on earth. 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 21 

and deprive us of all our bright hopes and anticipations 
in regard to the future. Apparently they are entire- 
ly unconscious of the fact that they themselves are con- 
stantly promulgating a doctrine as much more horri- 
ble than anything in Materialism as it is in the power 
of the human imagination to conceive. At the very 
worst, even, ultra-Materialism would do nothing worse 
than consign us to the quiet sleep of non-existence or 
annihilation, whereas the doctrine of the clergy would 
involve a majority of our race in miseries untold, nev- 
er-ending and indescribable. All, therefore, who hope 
for a future blissful existence, must desire it with the 
full knowledge that if they have it, they enjoy it 
at the expense of the endless and inconceivable sufier- 
ings of millions of their fellow men. Can a more 
monstrous exhibition of supreme selfishness be con- 
ceived ? 

* * These men claim, too, that by some mysterious su- 
pernatural process they have experienced such a 
change of nature, such a regeneration of character, 
such a sanctification of mind and heart as fits them to 
be the mouth-pieces of God, and the leaders and in« 
structors of mankind. But of what use is it for them to 
pretend to any superior sanctity, when all intelligent 
men know, and all the world ought to know, that they 
"are men of like passions as others," that they have 
the same appetites, passions, desires, faults and foibles 
that all men have. The criminal records of the coun- 
try prove that in proportion to their numbers no class 
of educated men furnish a greater number of the in- 
mates of our jails and prisons than the clergy. 

** There are in the United States nearly fifty thou- 
sand clergymen. We would utilize this element of so- 
ciety. That portion of them who, by their educa- 



23 ABRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

tion, talents and moral worth, are qualified for the 
work, we would have converted into teachers in our 
schools and seminaries of learning, public lecturers 
and leaders of the people in the great work of reform. 
We would have Ihem teach their fellow men on those 
subjects about which they have some positive knowl- 
edge, and in relation to which it is of the utmost im- 
portance that they be informed. We would have 
them teach the people to know themselves, to do theii 
own thinking, to form their own opinions, to under- 
stand the laws of their own nature, and the conditions 
on which the prosperity and happines s of human be- 
ings depend. We would place them on a level with 
the rest of mankind, give them the same chances, the 
same opportunities, and let them depend on themselves, 
instead of being merely dependents upon others. As 
for the rest, we would have them expend the force and 
energy, which they now spend for naught; in some 
branches of trade, or agriculture, and thereby make 
themselves a blessing to the world. 

**To this, or something like this, it must come at last. 
The people will not always suffer themselves to be led 
hoodwinked to their own destruction. A revolt is sure 
to come, and when it does come it is to be hoped that 
the crimes of the priesthood against humanity will not 
be too vividly remembered asjainst them, and that the 
sins of their' predecessors who lived in the dead past 
will not be visited on those who exist in the living 
present." 

We wish not to exaggerate their short-comings, to 
misrepresent their motives, nor even to tell the whole 
truth concerning them ; but we will in this connection 
give a few instances, derived from authentic sources, 
where our modern clergy have shown themselves weak 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 2& 

and criminal, proving conclusively to the unpreju- 
diced that they are unworthy the reverence and obse- 
quiousness accorded them. And right here the ques- 
tion arises, if they are not better, holier, nor more godly 
than other men, why will their sill}'', infatuated fol- 
lowers still continue to revere and absolutely worship 
them under the mistaken belief that they are **men 
of God," and superior to all others ? 

U. S. Senator Brownlow, of Tennessee, who was 
for many years a clergyman, as well as an editor and 
after. Governor of the State, in his book published 
some years ago, uses this language in reference to 
clergymen in the South: **I have no hesitancy in 
saying, as I now do, that the worst men who make 
tracks upon Southern soil are Methodist, Presbyterian, 
Baptist and Episcopal clergymen, and at the head of 
them for mischief are the Methodists" [p. 187]. **A 
majority of the clergymen have acted upon the princi- 
ple that the kingdom of their divine master is of this 
world, and as a consequence many of them have em- 
barked in fighting, lying and drinking mean whiskey, 
[p. 190]. **Here, as in all parts of the South, the 
worst class of men are preachers. They have done 
more to bring about the deplorable state of things ex- 
isting in the country, (meaning the war of the rebel- 
lion), than any other class of men. And foremost in 
this work of mischief are the Methodist preachers. 
Brave in anticipation of war, and prone to denunci- 
ation on all occasions, even in the pulpit, they have 
been among the first to take to their heels.'' [p. 392]. 

Rev. Mr. Craig, El Paso, 111., was guilty of crim. 
eon. with a lady of the place. 

A Clerical Gent of Detroit, forsook his wife and 
family, and went away with another woman, and re- 



24 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

sumed preaching in the far West, hoping to *' meet 
all his Detroit friends in heaven." 

Rev. Mr. Wesley, Geneseo, 111. , ran away with an- 
other man's wife. 

Rev. E. p. W. Packard had his wife put in an in- 
sane asylum when she was not insane, because she 
would not acknowledge she believed a part of the hu- 
man faraiiy were destined to burn forever in hell. 

Rev. Ephriam K. Avery, a promising young 
clergyman of New England, it will be remembered by 
many, after seducing his victim, a young lady of pre- 
vious good character, cruelly murdered her in the 
most fiendish manner, and left her hanging by the 
neck. 

A Catholic Priest, of Evansville, Ind,, was proved 
to be guilty of gross improprieties and immorality 
with young girls under his charge. 

A Rev. Gent of England, was recently proven 
guilty of forgery and other criminal conduct. 

The case of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is still 
fresh in the public mind. The charge of his numer- 
ous liasons with the females of his flock, particularly 
with Mrs. Tilton, has not been disproved. In the 
protracted trial of six months in the Brooklyn City 
Court where he was arraigned by Theodore Tilton for 
the crime of adultery, although much important testi- 
timony was not allowed to appear, a volumnious mass 
was presented, consisting of Mr. Beecher's and Mrs. 
Tilton's damning letters, his confessions, admissions, 
and his contrition, so conclusively proved by the sworn 
testimony of several individuals, that though a jury ol 
personal friends and admirers failed to agree in a ver- 
dict, hundreds and thousands of his countrymen are 
fully convinced of his guilt, and that during the thir- 



ARRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 25 

teen days he was himself upon the witness stand, 
that he was guilty of shameless, continued, open, and 
bare-faced perjury! perjury I I PERJURY I ! ' 
This conviction is constantly fastening more and more 
on the public mind, and though his congregation voted 
him $100,000 for the year, and though he continues to 
fill the pulpit, there are comparatively few who be- 
lieve him an innocent man. A second trial has been 
instituted, which it is believed will throw more light 
upon the case. That he is a man of great amative- 
ness is well understood by those who know him best. 
This, however, we do not mention as a crime, and it 
doubtless is the secret of his great magnetism and 
popularity, butit is expected Divines will keep their 
animal passions under suitable control. 

Rev. H. D. Fields, Maquoketa, Iowa, attempted 
to commit suicide. 

Rev. J. S. Bartlett, Milford, Ohio, was guilty of 
criminal intimacy with a pretty married woman of 
that town, who had no children. 

Rev. Mr. Linn, of Pittsl)urgh, was guilty of sev- 
eral improprieties with the ladies of his congregation. 

Rev. Miriam D. Wood, of Decatur, Ga. , seduce d 
Miss Emma J. Chivers. Result, a bouncing boy 
without a legal father. 

Rev. J. M. Mitchell, of Savannah, Ga. , and f f r- 
merly from Maine, was guilty of gross improprieti-es 
with females of his fold. When charged with tAe 
offences, he stoutly denied it, and asserted his inno- 
cence ; but when proofs accumulated and stared him 
in the face, he was compelled to confess to Bishop 
Beckwith, that he was not only guilty of the offences 
as charged, but that he had used the grossest false- 
hood in endeavoring to conceal his crimes. 



26 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

The embroglio between Rev. Dr. Langdon, and 
Rev. Dr. Goodenough, and several other Reverends 
of the Methodist Book Concern of this city, is well 
remembered, when charges of dishonesty, embezzle- 
ment, falsehood, &c., &c. , were freely made against 
each other. 

Rev. Mr. Lindsley, of Medina, N. Y., whipped 
a little child of his, three years old, for two hours 
and until it died. The excuse alleged by the rever- 
end **man of God*' was, that the cliild would not 
obey its step-mother and say its prayers. He was 
imprisoned at Albion, and came near being lynched 
by an infuriated populace. 

Rev. L. D. Huston, the clerical villain of Balti- 
more, was guilty of seducing and ruining several 
young, innocent girls, daughters of widows and 
other members of his congregation, who were sent 
to him for instruction in morality. The fiendish 
ingenuity he employed in accomplishing his vile 
purposes was enough to strike one with horror. 

Rev. a. T. Thompson, of Cincinnali, was guilty 
of numerous criminal intimacies with females — mar- 
ried and unmarried — of his congregation, as well as of 
gross intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquors. 

Rev. E. F. Berkley, of St. Louis, was guilty of 
criminal liberties with the yoling women of his flock 
— ' * the gentle ewe-lambs of the fold. " Among others 
was Ella C. Perry, of the immature age of eleven 
years. ' 

Rev. Washington W. Welch, near Holly, Mich., 
committed a rape upon Mrs. Louisa Green, the viife 
of a brother minister. 

Rev. Geo. Washburn, of the Lewistown and Brad- 
ford Circuit, Alleghany County, N. Y., was eni>;aged 



ABBAIG^MBNT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 27 

In courting two or more young ladies at the same time, 
and w«s under promise of marriage to several of 
them. 

Rev. Dr. Griswold, of Maine, of South Carolina, 
and other localities, was noted as a** ladies' man.'* 
His love adventures were numerous and spicy. He 
was also very fond of jovial and convivial company. 
He committed the crime of bigamy, having two 
wives at one time. 

Rev. Wm. Holt, near Paris, 111., whipped a widow 
woman with plow lines. 

Rev. Thuklow Tresselman, in Annetia, N". Y., 
seduced several young ladies of his flock, and when 
unmistakable indications became so apparent that 
he was charged with the matter, and about to be tried, 
he left the place very early one morning with the 
gay Mrs. Hurst, the wife of a gentleman who was 
absent from home. 

Rev. E. G. Ribble, of De Kalb County, 111., se- 
duced four young girls in the neighborhood, and ran 
away, leaving a wife and two children behind him 
unprovided for. A shocking case of scandalous 
criminality. 

Rev. B. Phinney, of Westboro, Mass., was guilty 
of licentiousness with various females connected with 
his church. 

Rev. Mr. Reed, of Maiden, was in the same cate- 
gory. 

Rev. I. S. Kalloch, of Kansas, while a resident of 
Massachusetts, visited i neighboring village with a 
woman not his wife, and hiring a room in a hotel for 
a short time, committed adultery with her then and 
there, as testified to by an eye-witness. Mr. Kalloch 
after this little difficulty removed to Kansas, and for 



28 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAET. 

several years wallowed in the mire of politics ; but 
not succeeding just to his mind in obtaining offices, 
he after a while, for the second time, turned his atten- 
tion to ministerial duties and pleasures. But sad to 
say, the lovely sisters once more proved too charming 
for him, and he wandered in by and forbidden paths. 
He was hauled up before the Church authorities for 
his peccadilloes, and finally * 'stepped down and out " 
for a season ; but we believe he is now once more 
imparting to his admiring hearers the will and re- 
quirements of God. Mr. Kalloch is still residing 
in Kansas. 

Kev. Dr. Pomeeoy, Secretary of the American 
Board of Foreign Missions, Boston, was proved to be 
a liberal patron of houses of ill-fjame, where he freely 
used the money his confiding flock had donated for 
the conversion of foreign heathen. By his own con- 
fession he had paid over $6,000 to women of notorious 
character in that city. 

Kev, Tunis Titus Kendrick, of Brooklyn, was 
proved guilty of drunkenness and other immoral 
conduct. He struggled a long time, but did not suc- 
ceed in gaining admission into the church from which 
he was expelled. 

Rev. R. H. Williamson, Wilkesbarre, Pa. (pastor 
of the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church) was guilty of 
visiting houses of ill-fame and other immoral con- 
duct. 

Rev. Mr. Smith, of Illinois, a few years ago 
drowned his wife in a shallow stream by holding her 
head under water. 

Rev. Father John Daly, Catholic, Montgomery, 
Mo., seduced a young girl named Lizzie McDonnell. 
The girl was nineteen years of age, and her mother had 



ARRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 29 

been housekeeper for the priest for a long time. After 
getting her in the condition to soon become a mother 
he procured an abortion on her. The congregatioa 
were much excited in consequence, while a portion of 
the church authoi ities did all they could to smother 
the reports. 

Rev. Archibald Hines, Knoxville, Tenn., was 
charged with stealing fifty cents from a bowl in the 
cupboard of one of his parishioners, and it made a 
great excitement among the saints. 

Eev. Thomas Botts of the Baptist Church, Phila- 
delphia, had charges preferred against him by two 
deacons and five prominent members, for undue fam- 
iliarity with certain lady members of the church and 
for want of truthfulness. Some twenty witnesses 
were examined during the trial, most of whom were 
ladies. 

A Methodist Minister in Cheltenham, Pa., was 
boarding with the wife of one of the Deacons of his 
church. The Deacon had a blooming daughter of 
fifteen summers, with whom the parson became so 
much enamoured that his passions were greatly arous- 
ed. The mother of the young girl was justly shocked 
on a certain occasion to find the clerical gentleman in 
bed with her daughter. The pastor endeavored to 
explain the unfortunate occurrence to the satisfaction 
of the parent, by claiming that he must have got into 
the girPs bed while he was asleep, but the story was 
not credited by the parents, and he was given twenty- 
four hours to leave the neighborhood. 

Rev. Dick Bottles, of Meridan, Miss., was arrested 
for stealing a ham ; but as he is a son of Ham, pos- 
sibly he thought he had a right to it. 

Rev. Charles A. Graber pastor of the Lutheran 



80 ARBAIQNMBKT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 

Church in Meriden, Conn., was accused of Beecher- 
like immorality, and of improper connection with the 
sisters. Like Beecher he denied it, but would not 
stand an examination, saying he preferred to resign 
his charge. 

Rev. Mr. Wilcox held a revival meeting of several 
days duration, several years ago in Northern Illinois. 
He was loud and earnest in his appeals for ** dying 
sinners to come to Jesus ;'* but in due process of time 
it was found that during that religious revival the 
Rev. Mr. Wilcox had become the father of four ille- 
gitimate children. 

Rev. Mr. Dowling, Indianapolis, Ind., prominent 
among the Campbellites, committed adultery with his 
servant girl, and was seen in the act by persons from 
a higher window in a neighbormg house. 

Abbe Joseph Chabert, a prominent Catholic 
ecclesiastic of Montreal, and principal of the govern- 
ment school of art and design, was on September 25th 
arrested on a charge of rape, committed on Josephine 
Beauchamp, a girt of fifteen years, and in his own 
room. Probably his saintship had indulged too much 
In celibacy, until the flesh rebelled against the spirit. 

Rev. John JTewland Mafpit, a noted revival iat 
who flourished twenty-five years ago and was noted 
for his vehemence in drawing vivid pictures of hell 
and frightening sinners to flee from the wrath to come, 
and for his ardent love for the female portion of his 
followers, often indulged in carnal pleasures with the 
admiring sisters. After the exercises of the evening 
were over, it was not an unusual thing for him to go 
home with a female member of the Church and pass 
the night with her. On an occasion of this kind in 
Louisville, Ky., a fire broke out in the vicinity where 



ARRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 31 

the revivalist was lodging, and in tue excitement, he 
and his lady love rushed in their night clothes to the 
windows to see where the fire was. Our informant 
knew MiifRi well, and was positive he saw him in the 
lady's private chamber, in his shirt only, and after mid- 
night. The next night he was as zealous as ever, 
' pleading for Jesus. 

Rev. E. W. Sehon, formerly of Louisville, Ky., 
and a very prominent member in the Methodist clergy 
in Kentucky, held sexual intercourse with a prostitute 
of that city, in his own Church, after dark of an 
evening. 

Rev. John A. Hudkins, of Mt. Airy, O., was a 
bigamist, or rather a trigamist, having three wives at 
a time. He eluded justice by escaping to Canada. 

A Baptist clergyman of North Carolina, was im- 
prisoned for bastardy. The fine assessed against him 
was paid by members of his Church, and when he 
was released from confinement, the sisters of his 
congregation met him at the prison door and received 
him with open arms. 

Rev. W. H. Johnson, of Rah way, N. J., was con- 
victed for stealing chickens, and was sentenced to 
prison for the offense. 

Rev. Luke Mills, of the Methodist Church, Nor- 
wich Conn., decamped with a considerable sum of 
money which had been collected for building a new 
CI lurch. He was also said to be guilty of irregulari- 
I ties with a female member of his congregation. 

; A WELL KNOWN EPISCOPAL CLERGYMAN Of Coving- 

i ton, Ky., has several times partaken too freely of 
intoxicating liquors, so as to plainly show the effect 
it had upon him.- On Christmas day of 1874, he 
preached a sermon in St. John's fashionable Church 



33 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

in Cincinnati, and he was so fuddled with egg nog 
and communion wine, his preaching was so strange and 
his language so incoherent that his condition was made 
apparent to all present. His mumbling became so 
senseless that the wardens made signals to the con- 
gregation, and in shame and disgrace they left the 
Church and the drunken pastor to talk to empty 
benches. 

Rev. Mr. Warren, of'Busset Hills, K Y., re- 
signed his charge at the special request of his congre- 
gation, beeause he was the husband of three living 
and undivorced wives. He asked to preach 2l fare- 
well sermon, but they would not consent to it. It was 
only leniency on their part that prevented them from 
prosecuting him for bigamy and sending him to State 
prison. 

Rev. Mr. Deardofp, of Yates City, 111. ,held a pro- 
tracted meetinpj, at Yates City, a few months ago, 
and was one night invited by one of the sisters to go 
home with her and stay over night. Upon arriving 
there he began improper familiarities, and she not 
feeling in the humor for the like, and tearing herself 
away from his embrace, rushed to one of the neigh- 
bors for safety. It is needless to say the protracted 
meeting camo to a sudden termination, and the rev- 
erend gent proceeded to another field where the sis- 
ters were more accommodating. 

Rev. Mr. Curtiss, not long since conducted a 
revival meeting at Piano, 111., and lived on ''chicken 
fixings" and the best the pious sisters knew how to 
get up for him. Clerical business called him to the 
village of Blackberry, where he put up at a hotel and 
staid over night. When he retired he was either so 
absorbed in the spirit, or in the flesh, that he acci- 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 33 

dentally got into bed with a woman not nis wife. 
When discovered in this interestinof situation by some 
over-curious individuals, he claimed that the little 
affair was entirely an accident. It is singular how 
many of these little accidents do take place. 

Eey, Dr. Fiske, upon a trial for adultery in Mich- 
igan, unlike many of his brothers of the cloth, hon- 
estly owned up as follows: "I frankly confess to the 
fearful sin of which 1 am charged, and I will not be 
a coward to lie or seek palliation of my weakness and 
guilt. I have returned any letter of fellowship to the 
denomination I have so grievously stricken, and have 
abandoned the profession 1 have so deplorably 
shamed. ' 'I am not a coward or sneak to make Adam's 
plea, that a woman did it. It was my own weak and 
ungimrded soul that in a moment of frenzy and pas- 
sion wrought my downfall! " This man was much 
mor^ honorable and honest than a majority of his 
brothers who are tried for similar offenses, and insist 
'* through thick and thin "in the face of positive 
proof that they are perfectly innocent. 

E-EV. K. N. Wright and Rev. Mr. Kristeller, 
both contested for the same pulpit at Newbridge, N. 
Y. The first had preached there a year and was 
opposed to Jeaving. The second was appointed by 
the Conference to succeed him. The first refused to 
vacate ; hence the quarrel. The Church divided as 
to the two claimants, some joining one side, and some 
the other. The quarrel waxed very warm until the 
saints shook their fists at each other in a very ungod- 
ly manner. 

Eey. a. W. Torrey, Kalamazoo, Mich. , was tried 
by the Church for falsehood and was found guilty . 

Key. Mr. Coleman, of the M. E. Church, in E. 



34 AKRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

Janesville Circuit, Iowa, was held in $5,000 bonds 
for committing a rape on a girl thirteen years old. 

Rev. Mr. Parshall, Oakland, Cal., was not long 
ago tried by a Church Council for lascivious conduct 
with sisters of the congregation. He was convicted 
and left town. 

Rev. a. W. Eastman, West Cornwall, O., was 
expelled from the Baptist Church for immorality. 

Another Baptist Clergyman at Sabin, Mich., 
was detected in too much familiarity with some of 
the sisters, and ran away to avoid the shame of ex- 
posure. 

Rev. John Hutchinson, Episcopal, Boston, was 
sent to the House of Correction for eight months, for 
swindling George Allen out of a thousand dollars. 

Rev. Wm. Rice, Methodist, Mason, Mich., was 
convicted of adultery. 

A Pious Reverend in Warren, Mc Comb County, 
Mich., was charged with violating a dozen school 
girls and swearing them to secrecy on the crucifix of 
the Church. He ran away to escape exposure. 

Rev. D. M. White, Presbyterian, Pittsburg, Pa., 
was sent to State prison for two years for stealing 
money. 

Kev. D. S. K. Pine, same place, was charged by 
a young woman with sexual irregularities. 

Rev. Dr. Wm. G. Murray, rector of the Centra! 
Cliurch, Baltimore, got drunk and was extremely 
profane. 

Rev. a. Steelson, plead guilty to the charge of too 
much intimacy with the sisters. 

Rev. James E. Reesdolph, Methodist, Adrian, 
Mich., was sent to the Detroit House of Correction 
for sixty days, for false pretenses and getting drunk. 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 35 

Eev. Mr. Reynolds, Muhlenburg Co., Ky., brutal- 
ly and repeatedly whipped his daughter, eighteen 
years of age, to force her to marry a man she did not 
prefer. 

Eey. Hiram Meeker, Granville, N. Y., was con- 
victed of fornication and adultery. 

Key. n. Foster, Circleville, 0., was compelled 
to marry his servant girl whom he had seduced. 

Eev. John Seelly Watson, Kansas, murdered 
his wife. 

Rev. Mr. Johnson, Williamson Co., Tenn., se- 
duced a girl fourteen years of age. 

Rev. E. S. Whipple, Baptist, of Hillsdale College, 
Mich., seduced a deacon's wife, and when confronted 
with the charge, was compelled to confess it. He 
afterwards prayed with the deacon and his wife. 
The deacon must have enjoyed that. 

Rev. Richard Dunlap, Baptist, Midland, Mich., 
was convicted of adultery with a Mrs. Burnett. 

Rev. Mr. Davis, same denomination, was arraigned 
for adultery with sister Brunk. 

Rev. Mr. Kirby, Chambersburgh, O. , was fined 
$200 for seduction. 

Rev. Malcolm Clark, superintendent of the 
Sunday school, Howard, Mich., ran away with $400 
belonging to his mother-in-law, and also forged her 
name to obtain other money. 

Rev. Mr. White, Washington, Pa., was found 
guilty of seduction. 

Rev. J. H. Ross, Baptist, Hartford Mich., was 
guilty of forgery. 

Rev. T. M. Dawson, Brooklyn, Cal.,left that local- 
ity and went to Nevada, leaving a number of his 
brethren, in the aggregate, several thousands of dol- 



86 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT 

lars in arrears, he having invested for them in mining 
stocks. He was also, not long before, divorced from 
his wife on the grounds of desertion. 

Kev. George O. Eddy, was deposed for bigamy 
at Gloversville, K Y. 

Ken. Mr. Edgerton, same place, was afterwards 
charged with theft. He boarded at the Mansion 
House, and a servant found a quantity of stolen 
towels, napkins &c., in a satchel in his room. He 
was arrested and he left his watch in payment for his 
board bill. 

Rev. L. T. Hardy, a Baptist Elder in Shelbyville, 
Ky., had a fall from decency. He eloped with one 
of the sisters of his congregation, and her brother 
pursued the pair in hot haste. 

Rev. Benjamin F. Bowen, Cold Spring, N. Y., 
was tried for malicious trespass. 

Rev. J. A. Davidson, recent State lecturer for the 
Grand Lodge of Good Templars of Pennsylvania, 
was arrested at Erie for drunkenness and disorderly 
conduct and had a fine to pay. He is said to have 
organized more lodges than any other person in the 
State. 

Rev. J. M. Porter, Bethlehem, N. J., was deposed 
from the ministry and Christian fellowship by an 
ecclesiastical council for gross immorality in con- 
nection with the sisters of the Church. 

Elder Sands of the Baptist Church in Hoosick, 
N. Y., formerly an insurance agent in this city, was 
charged with ** naughty " conduct with a ewe-lamb of 
his flock. He paid frequent visits to her and one day 
her brother surprised them in very suspicious relations 
together. An investigating committee was appointed 
to enquire into the case. The girl was entirely mum 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 37 

and had no communication to make on the subject. 
The Elder confessed to having his hands under the 
young lady's clothes but further than that deposed 
not. The affair, however, was smoothed over and 
hushed up, and the gay Lothario still breaks the bread 
of life to the faithful. 

Rev. G. W. Porter, Methodist, recently had a 
trial at Danbyborough, Yt., for adultery with Miss 
Hattie Allen. The young lady was on the witness 
stand nine hours and made a clean-breast of the affair, 
making the preacher's guilt most apparent to all 
present. 

Rev. John W. Hanna, Presiding Elder, and the 
most prominent Methodist preacher in the State of 
Tennessee, and one of the ablest lights in the Epis- 
copal Church South, has recently in Murphysboro, 
Tenn., had a trial before a church investigating com- 
mittee, consisting of Bishop McTyeirie and five prom- 
inent clergymen, for gross immorality in writing a 
la vicious letter to Miss Parilla Nailor for trying to 
seduce her from the path of virtue and to yield herself 
to his lustful embrace. In his amorous suit he directed 
the attention of the young lady to the Seventh Chapter 
of Solomon's Songs, hoping the amorous character of 
that portion of ** God's Word " would aid him in his 
unholy enterprise- Fortunately the young lady's 
brother intercepted the base letter and detected the 
hoary, clerical lecher. Upon exposure he became 
very penitent and acknowledged in great sorrow 
his criminal folly. The love of Jesus in his case was 
altogether insufficient to keep him pure and upright 

Rev. John S. Glendenning, of Jersey City, N. J. 
it will be remembered held a long trial for the seduc- 
tion of Mary E. Pomeroy who deposed with her dying 



38 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

breath that he was the farther of her child, and that he 
had seduced her. Although the clergyman boldly and 
persistently asserted his innocence the public were 
satisfied he was a basely guilty man. 

Rev. W. H. Buttner, pastor of St. Luke's Church, 
(Lutheran) of New York, was arrainged before the 
church authorities for deceiving a young lady undei 
promise of marriage. He was requested to resign his 
charge and he had the good sense to do so. 

Rev. Austin Hutchinson, of Vermont, was charg- 
ed by his own daughter, Ida, with being the father of 
her babe five months old, she asserting the fact with 
great persistency. 

Rev. Mr. Quint, of Bedford, Mass. , while stopping 
in Brooklyn in the summer of 1874, during which 
time he officiated several Sundays in Plymouth Pul- 
pit, was known by certain parties to visit women of 
easy virtue and that he was guilty of conduct very un- 
becoming a man of virtue and integrity. 

Rev. L. L. Copeland of Vermont, and a revivalist 
of some note, was denounced as a rascal. The cre- 
den'ials upon which he entered the ministry, even, 
were pronounced forgeries, and he was accused of 
being a swindler and a bigamist. 

Rev. J. H. Todd, of Sioux City, Iowa, played an 
unmanly trick upon his wife, while she was mending 
his pants, he slipped out of the house and eloped with 
a^milliner. 

*Rev. a. B. Burdick, of River Point, R. I., was 
guilty of improprieties of a social character with fe- 
male lambs of his flock. Eight witnesses testified 
pointedly against him, his guilt was unmistakably 
established and he was compelled to *' step down and 
out." 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 39 

Rev. Joseph Stillim, Wincliester, Pa. , was charg- 
ed with ruining a young lady, Miss Sarah Hall, who 
stood high in the society of that locaUty. The great 
disgrace rendered her insane, but in her lucid mo- 
ments she averred the reverned gentleman quoted 
scripture to her to prove that his conduct was in keep- 
in with the word of God. She unfortunately trusted 
too far in a false shepherd. 

Father Forham, of the Catholic Church, Chicago, 
was charged and tried for embezzling several thousand 
dollars that belonged to the church. He claimed a 
large part of the money was won by gambling in a 
church fair, that there was no legal owner to it and 
that he had as much right to it as any one. He was 
held in $5,000 bail. 

Rev. Alfred K Gilbert, of Baltimore, had 
charges preferred against him by members of his own 
church, for sinful intimacies with a grass widow also 
belonging to his congregation. The widow was in- 
duced to leave and the matter piousl}^ hushed up and 
the pastor's preaching and praying was resumed. 

Rev. John Hobart, Methodist, Maiden, Mass., 
was early in 1875, arraigned before the District 
Court, to answer a coinplaint made by Mrs. Anna L. 
Lundleery, charging him with being the father of her 
unborn babe. He was nearly sixty years of age and 
originally came fjom Vermont. He graduated as a 
minister at Middletown, Conn. He preached a few 
years at Fall River, Mass., and was also a chaplain in 
the army. It was charged upon him, that after get- 
ting this woman in the bad situation alluded to, he 
induced a simple man by the name of Lundleery to 
marry her ; but his crime was not thereby concealed. 

Rev. Mr. Humpstone, Myalta, N. Y. , in conse- 



40 ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 

quence of a Church difficulty, tendered his resigna- 
tion in April, 1875. On the following Sunday it was 
arranged that the Rev. Mr. Cook officiate in his 
place ; but he not putting in an appearance, it was 
suggested by a brother, that Bro. Humpstone read 
the services. Dr. Bellinger opposed the proposition 
and rebuked the brother for making it ; and when 
Bro. Humpstone arose to speak, Dr. Bellinger or- 
dered him to sit down. The ex-pastor would not be 
thus ordered down. The contending parties then 
clinched and a disgraceful fight ensued. 

Rev. J. R. Stillwell, of Logansport, Ind., was 
brought before the Church for making improper ad- 
vances towards the sisters of his flockr A clear case 
was made against him, and without adding falsehood 
and perjary to his other crimes, he had the discretion 
to confess his offences, resign his charge and leave 
the place. The local papers regretted the circum- 
stances, more especially as it came in the midst of a 
successful revival which was sens'.bly checked by 
the publicity of the clerical scandal. 

Rey. Thomas Barnard, of London, recently got 
disgracefully drunk, and in that condition went to 
the Globe Theatre, where Lydia Thompson was en- 
gaged. That evening a new piece was put upon the 
stage in which Mrs. Thompson did not appear. 
This so enraged the drunken parson that he stamped, 
shouted - and hissed to that extent, that a policeman 
arrested him and took him to prison. ^ 

Rev. J. J. Heeder, a young clergyman, went in 
1874 to New Milford, Pa., and studdied for a time 
under the Rev. E. F. Bledson, pastor of the Metho- 
dist Church of that village. Subsequently he was 
sent by the Newark, N. J., Conference, to fill a va* 



ARRAIGNMENT OF PRIESTCRAFT. 41 

cancy at that place. The young divine proved to be 
popular, especially with the younger sisters of the 
society, with whom he spent the most of his time. 
He afterwards manifested a great fondness for horse 
flesh. He traded in fast horses, and soon obtained 
the reputation of being a good judge of equine stock. 
He finally purchased a valuable horse for which he 
gave his note ; but just before it became due he sud- 
denly decamped to parts unknown, leaving many un- 
paid bills behind. In his hasty flight he left his 
trunks and books, which were sold to pay his debts ; 
but unfortunately they went but a short way towards 
paying them. It is not known in what part of the 
moral vineyard he is now laboring. 

Rev. Charles S. Macready, of Middleboro, Mass., 
on May 20, 1875, committed suicide by cutting his 
throat with a razor. 

Rev. J. J. EIowELL, Presbyterian, Minneapolis, 
Minn., hung himself in May, 1875. 

Rev Samuel B. Wilson, of the First Presbyterian 
Church, Louisville, Ky., was in May, 1875, deposed 
by the Presbytery for immoral conduct. 

Rev. John W. Porter, in the Winter and Spring 
of 1875, had a charge at Van Sycles Corners, Hunt- 
ing Co., N. J, In addition to preaching he also 
taught school. It turned out that the villain basely 
seduced one of his young female pupils, named 
Silenda Stires, a daughter of Peter W. Stires, a well- 
to-do farmer in the neighborhood. While she was 
yet a mere child, she was about to become a mother. 
Upon being questioned, she informed her parents of 
the nature of the lessons the clerofyman had taught 
her. Upon his being confronted by the injured 
father, the villain confessed his crime and turned 



43 ARRAIGNMENT OP PRIESTCRAFT. 

over his horse and buggy to partly make amends for 
his shameful conduct, and with his heart-stricken 
wife, took the first train of cars for another field of 
labor. 

The case of Bishop Onderdonk of New Jersey and 
his protracted trial several years ago, for being guilty 
ot sexual intercourse with different females in his 
library, will be remembered by many of our readers. 
Though great efforts were made to screen this prom- 
inent light of the church, the public were made pain- 
fully sensible of his guilt. 

For want of room and from a disinclination to 
further pursue the subject at this time, we decline 
extending the recital of similar instances. With a 
moderate effort enough authentic statements of a like 
character, of our weak, sinful clergy could be collect- 
ed to fill a large volume. Probably scarcely one case 
in ten of the criminal acts of clergymen are brought 
to light. They are ** hushed up" and smothered for 
the *'good of the cause" when it is possible to do so. 
Doubtless many of our readers can call to mind cases 
of clerical peccadilloes, falling under their notice 
which never appeared in print. We think, however, 
we have said enough to convince candid, honest peo- 
ple that priests and clersjymen are no holier than other 
men; that they know nothing more about God, have 
no more influence with him, are no more controlled 
by the principles of virtue, morality and self-denial 
than their fellow men. 

In closing we simply ask^ is it for such conduct as 
we have named, and is it for perpetuating and main- 
taining such a privileged class, that the people of this 
country are paying the priesthood over sixty millions 
of dollars annually? Is any good to be gained by 



vrkaiojsment op priestcraft. 43 

scoping iHese fj\c*5 smothered and concealed, and is \*% ' 
K not dWout time these Reverend gentry were shown 
tip in their true light, and be appreciated by the pub- 
lic in their real characiei ( 



A Word ot iJviee. 

Reader: If you wish a live, Tear jess, outspoken, Radi- 
cal sheet, subscribe for 

THE XBUTH SEEiClTJi. 

a Weekly Journal of Free Thought ana Reform. Does not 
every true Liberal feel interested in tne success of this 
enterprise ? And can he have fully dijoaatged his duty, 
who does not aid in its support? 
Published at $2.00 per year, including posva^e, by 

D. M. BENIS^ETT, 
336 BroadwJw N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 1^ 



Joshua's Stopping the Sun and Moon. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



IFrom The Teuth Seeker of April 1st. 1875.] 



Of all the remarkable tales that have ever been nar- 
rated by any story-teller, or written in any book, wheth- 
er '^ Baron Munchausen," ** Gulliver's Travels," **The 
Arabian Nights," *' Robinson Crusoe," or in the wild 
nursery tales for children, in point of extravagance, 
improbability, impossibility and absurdity, there is 
nothing that equals the account of Joshua's, causing 
the sun and moon to stand still, as related in the tenth 
chapter of the book called by his name, After this 
mighty military man had demolished the cities of Jer- 
icho and Ai, putting to death every man, woman and 
child, '* leaving not a soul to breathe," some of the 
neighboring nations very naturally became alarmed 
at these blood-thirsty Israelites, and deemed it best to 
placate them and make friends with them. Thus the 



2 JOSHUA'S STOPPING 

men of Gibeon dressed themselves in tattered gar- 
ments, with worn-out shoes and clouts on their feet, 
and with mouldy food, and rent wine-bottles, appear- 
ed before the Israelites, pretending to have come a 
long journey and were anxious to make a treaty with 
them. Joshua and his men were deceived by this 
stratagem, and entered into a solemn treaty that they 
would do no harm tc the Gibeonites,. and swore to it 
in the most sacred manner by their God. 

When the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jar- 
muth, Lachish and Eglon, heard of the treaty thus 
made they were very much incensed at the Gibeon- 
ites, and united their own forces to destroy the nation 
at which they had become offended. Whereupon the 
Gibeonites deeming their danger imminent, called up- 
on their new allies, the Jews, to *'help them out." 
Joshua, with commendable alacrity, went to their re- 
lief, and the fighting and bloodshed were soon in ac- 
tive operation. He evidently had a great fondness for 
this business of carnage, as nearly his whole time was 
occupied in that direction. The number of men en- 
gaged, however, was very insignificant compared with 
many other armies the world has known. *' The na- 
tions," so-called, were small, being little more than 
tribes, occupying a single city each. Nevertheless it 
was evidently a pretty lively time, and Joshua deem- 
ing the day too short to properly finish the slaughter 
so vigorously prosecuted, commanded the sun and 
moon to stand still, and they obeyed him, for nearly 
the space of a whole day, thus giving him and the 
Jews time to be avenged upon their enemies. 

We repeat, this is the most monstrous and utterly 
impossible story that ever was told. To say a flea 
swallowed Bunker Hill Monument, that a. spider and 



THE SUN AND MOON. 3 

a bed-bug built a ship five hundred feet long, or that 
a grasshopper hauled a train of twenty loaded cars 
five hundred miles in ten hours, would be tame and 
insignificant compared with this Bible story. What 
is it to stop the sun and moon in their courses ? The 
sun is an immense body of matter nearly a million 
miles in diameter. One hundred globes the size of 
the earth, placed side by side, w^ould not equal the di- 
ameter of the sun. It is more than a thousand times 
greater than the earth, and nearly a hundred times 
greater than all the rest of the solar system. The mo- 
mentum of such a vast body in rapid transit is utter- 
ly inconceivable. The moon is smaller than the 
earth, and only two hundred and forty thousand miles 
distant, but what can a man, or all the men that ever 
lived combined, do towards stopping it, much less the 
sun, ninety-five millions of miles away ? Those orbs 
have doubtless for millions of years been in incessa.it 
and rapid motion, performing their regular circuits, 
pursuant to laws and forces impossible to be set aside 
for an instant, and how idle to say a man ever stopped 
them, or even that a God ever stopped them. They are 
minute parts of the boundless Universe which move 
in harmonious accord and co-operation, and were it 
possible to stop a part, the most inconceivable confu- 
sion would ensue. To go into an immense machine 
shop where numerous huge and ponderous wheels are 
running with great velocity, the larger matching and 
fitting into the smaller, and all being impelled by a 
tremendous power, gives a very imperfect idea of the 
countless worlds and suns filling the Universe, moving 
in perfect unison in their intricate connection ; and 
should a heavy bar of iron or stick of timber be 
thrust between two of the wheels so as to suddenly 



4 JOSHUA'S STOPPING 

interrupt the movement of the machinery, it would 
afford a very imperfect conception of the utter confu- 
sion and destruction it must cause in the Universe 
should a part of its machinery be suddenly stopped. 

No machinery made by man can give an adequate 
idea of the machinery of the Universe. As well talk 
about a fly at the Cape of Good Hope stopping the 
Falls of Niagara, as Joshua stopping the sun and 
moon. The thing is too preposterous to be thought of 
seriously for a moment. The silly argument so often 
used — *' all things are possible with God'* — will not 
avail. God cannot act against himself, and to subvert 
the forces of the Universe would be to act against 
himself. 

Perhaps it is hardly worth while to allude to the 
trivial matter of the sun and moon both cheering the 
Israelites by shining upon them at the same time, in 
their bloody work of carnage, the one being on Gibe- 
on and the other in the Valley of Ajalon. It would 
seem unnecessary for Joshua to have detained both of 
them, and it may strike some as singular how the 
moon could give much light while the sun was pour- 
ing down his rays ; but people are required to have 
faith and believe what the book says. 

It may be justly urged that if a day was to be in- 
creased in length, it would, not be necessary to stop 
the sun, but the earth. This does not remove the im- 
possibility of the story, but simply illustrates the to- 
tal iguorance of the motions of the heavenly bodies 
on the part of the person who wrote the book of 
Joshua. It was then believed day and night were 
produced by the sun every twenty-four hours, making 
a complete circuit around the earth. The fact that a 
person so ignorant of the actual movements of our 

/ 



THE SUN AND MOON. 5 

sun, moon and eartli, should be held up to us as one 
writing the **word of God,'* is sufficient reason why 
we should not believe a word he utters. As well 
might we believe the ancient false supposition that the 
earth had corners^ that it had foundations and rested 
on the backs of huge elephants, tortoises, etc. True, 
astronomers assure us the sun has two distinct mo- 
tions, one upon its own axis, and another with the en- 
tire solar system around a more immense and far dis- 
tant sun ; but the writers of the Bible knew nothing 
of this, and supposed the sun and moon ^very da}^ 
performed a journey around the earth. 

It would be no easier for Joshua to stop the mo- 
tions of the earth than the sun. It has been whirling 
for unknown ages at the speed of one thousand miles 
an hour in its diurnal revolution, and through space 
at the velocity of sixty-eight thousand miles an hour 
in its yearly course around the sun. It has never 
stopped for an instant, and never will, so long as the 
matter which composes it retains its present form. 
How idle, then, for any story-teller to talk about a 
man, or any other being, stopping it for a day. 

If for one moment we admit such a possibility, 
would not that day, "unlike any before it or since," 
and nearly double the length of other days, have been 
known elsewhere than at the city of Gibeon ? The 
same sun that shone there, sent his rays to every part 
of the earth, and the intelligent nations of Egypt, 
Persia, India, China and other countries whose histo- 
ry runs much further back than the time of Joshua, 
would assuredly have known it and had some account 
of this most wonderful occurrence, had it ever taken 
place. But not a word do we hear of it from 
any part of the world, or any being except the anony- 



6 Joshua's stopping 

mous author of the book of Joshua. Who this wri- 
ter was, no one knows. It could not have been 
Joshua himself, for it refers to events that occurred 
long after his death, and in several instances uses lan- 
guage that )ias no meaning, unless the book was writ- 
ten long after the events were said to have trans- 
pired.' 

The motive or reason assigned f6r this most won- 
derful miracle that ever was related, is as improbable 
and as unreasonable as the story itself. It is, that a 
few thousand, at most, of poor,, hapless mortals- 
offspring of the same Universal Power of which we 
claim to be emanations — might be cruelly slaughtered 
by the merciless Israelites, pursuant to a treaty they 
had been wheedled into by fraud. Can any sane 
person, for a moment, believe the Architect of all 
worlds, if he bad the power, would stop the machin- 
ery of the Universe for a reason so contemptible, as 
to give time for one barbarous nation to slaughter a 
few thousands of another barbarous nation ? Reason, 
justice and common sense forbid! Such a disposition 
may have been in keeping with the warlike, blood- 
thirsty and partial character as credited to Jehovah, 
the tutelar Deity of the Jews, but it does not inure to 
the Universal Force and life-principle pervadmg the 
immense Universe, which shows no partiality to one 
nation over another, and delights not in carnage and 
bloodshed. The two should not be mistaken, one for 
the other ; there is no similarity between them. If Je- 
hovah wished to destroy those unfortunate Amorites, 
why not accomplish it suddenly, as he is said to have 
exterminated much larger numbers on other occa- 
sions ? Or why not slay them by continuing the throw- 
ing of rocks upon them out of heaven, as the same 



THE SUN AND MOON. 7 

chapter says he did on this occasion ? It asserts he 
" slew them with great slaughter at Gibeon, and chas- 
ed them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, 
and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. And 
it came to pass as they fled from before Israel, and 
were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord 
cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto 
Azekah, and they died. There were more which died 
from hail-stones than they which the children of Is- 
rael slew with the sword. " It appears the Lord had 
a special ill-will toward those poor people, to treat 
them in that harsh manner, and it would seem his 
ammunition must have been exhausted — the heavenly 
rocks — or he would have kept up the fire until the last 
man was killed, and thus save him the trouble of in- 
terfering with the machinery of the Universe to length- 
en out the day, so that Joshua and his bloody co- 
horts could slaughter the few that remained. One 
would think the killing of a few hundred exhausted 
men, a much easier task than stopping the sun and 
moon, or the earth. By the by, we wish to enquire 
right here, is it a strictly god-like occupation for a 
deity to stone his offspring to death in that kind of 
manner? And is that the best use he could put them 
to? 

Now, reader, this narrative is true, or it is false — 
the idle fancy of a silly brain, unfit alike to edify men 
and women, or to amuse little children. How stands 
the evidence ? One unknown, nameless, anonymous 
writer who once Jived, but nobody knows when, and 
nobody knows where, says it was so. Science, phi- 
losophy, reason, the negative testimony of many na- 
tions, truth and common sense say it is untrue. Which 
shall we believe ? Those with brains, and who are 



8 JOSHUA'S STOPPING THE SUN AND MOON. 

free to think for themselves, must accept the latter 
testimony. 

In Isaiah xxxviii : 7, 8, a story of similar credibili- 
ty is narrated, when merely to give Hezekiah a sign 
that his life should be prolonged fifteen years, the sun 
not only was stopped, but moved back ten degrees on 
the dial of Ahaz. Here we have a reiteration of a 
similar impossibility. Our Christian friends, howev- 
er, swallow it as readily as six-year-old children do 
the tales and melodies of ** Mother Goose," and are 
ready to doom all who cannot, to the endless torments 
of hell. 

Such belief, they assure us, constitutes virtue, and 
to doubt it is a heinous crime. We are rejoiced, how- 
ever, to see their idol is losing its hold upon the minds 
of intelligent men ; the sun of reason and truth is 
breaking through the clouds of ignorance and error, 
and its course cannot be stayed any more than the 
sun of the solar system. Mankind will, in due 
time, emerge from the mists and fogs that for agek 
have enveloped them, when they will no longer give 
credence to idle, silly tales that do such gross injustice 
to the great Source of Life, Light and Truth that per- 
meates and impels every atom in the entire Universe. 



"THE TRUTH SEEKER" 

Is an outspoken and fearless advocate of Science, Mor- 
als, Free Thought and General Reform. 

D. M. BENNETT, Editor and Publisher, 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 20.] 



SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



[From The Tkuth Seekebo! April 15th. 1876.] 



Among the stories in the Bible that may well be 
classed as improha^le^ is the strange one of Samson and 
his remarkable muscular strength. His history com- 
menced before his birth or before he was begotten. 
An angel of God appeared unto his father and moth- 
er and predicted they should have a son, that he should 
be a Nazarite and no razor should touch his head. The 
woman in due time bore a son and he grew up and the 
** Lord blessed him." 

As is common with other young men, he soon fell 
in love. He saw a young woman at Timnath, among 
the Philistines with whom he was well pleased, and he 
importuned his parents to go down and procure the 
young lady for him. They consented to do so. He ac- 
companied them and while on the way a lion confront- 



2 SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 

ed them, but our young hero was not at all dismayed. 
His affection for the young Philistine damsel *was so 
ardent as to make him immensely strong, and though 
the lion roared against him, and though he had no 
weapons of any kind, and '* nothing in his hand," he 
rent the lion as he would have rent a young kid. 

The lion is held to be a most formidable beast, and 
for agility, quickness and great strength he is not sur- 
passed in the whole animal kingdom. It is remarka- 
ble that a young stripling, as Samson was at that time, 
unarmed, and without even the assistance of a walk- 
ing-stick or club, could easily demolish the king of 
beasts. But as the book asserts it, we are perhaps not 
at liberty to doubt it. 

He had the desired interview with the Philistine 
Ijiaiden, and they were mutually pleased with each 
other. On his return he stopped to look at the carcass 
of the lion, and found that bees had taken pos- 
session of it, and had already accumulated consider- 
able honey, of which he freely partook and gave to his 
parents. The bees must have been pretty lively in 
their operations to have taken possession of the carcass 
and partly filled it with honey in so short a time, or 
Samson must have unduly protracted his stay with 
the maiden. 

It may be inferred, also, that bees in those days were 
less fastidious about their dwelling-place than now. 
Modern bees are too nice and particular to have sweet, 
clean liives, to take the putrefying carcass of an animal 
for a home ; nor would our bees permit a person to ab- 
stract their hard earnings without vigorously defend- 
ing their property and severely stinging intruders 

Samson gave a riddle pertaining to the lion and the 
bees on a subsequent visit to the Philistines, and his 



I 



SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 8 

young wife gave his visitors the solution, at which he 
was displeased, and the spirit of the Lord coming upon 
him, he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty-seven 
men, and took their spoil and garments and divided 
them among those who solved the riddle, and his wife 
was also given away. It seems a little singular that the 
spirit of the Lord coming upon him should make him 
so murderous ; but in those days God appears to have 
been particularly bloodthirsty. Slaughter and carnage 
seemed to please him better than anything else. 

Samson's fox trick is worthy of notice. Wishing to 
injure the Philistines he caught three hundred foxes 
and tied them together, tail to tail, and placed a fire- 
brand between every two tails, and after he had light- 
ed the brands he let them go, and they ran through 
grain fields, setting fire to, and burning all the grain in 
shocks, all the standing grain and the vineyards and 
olives as well. Were this story anywhere else than in 
the Bible it would be pronounced silly and incredible. 
It is hardly probable a man coald catch three hun- 
dred foxes, no matter how strong he might be. They 
are extremely shy and difficult to catch, and 
a man can hardly be found who could catch a sin- 
gle fox by himself, much less three hundred, and 
they to stand still while he tied their tails together and 
attached firebrands to them. It was cruel on the foxes, 
to say the least. It is not very likely standing grain, 
vineyards, and olive trees would be set on fire, even if 
foxes should thus run through them. Growing vines 
and trees are not easy to ignite. The sap in the twigs 
and green leaves renders them quite incombustible, 
and a brand going swiftly by would hardly affect them. 
The Philistines to be avenged for this cruel wrong 
took Samson's wife and her father and burned them 



4 SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 

with fire, all of which we should call a burning 
shame. 

Samson greatly distinguished himself when his 
brethren bound him with strong cords and delivered 
him to his enemies, when he suddenly burst the cords 
and with the jaw-bone of an ass slew one thousand 
of them. It was indeed an ass-tonishing feat, and never 
before or since was an ass' jaw-bone known to do such 
service. What those thousand men were doing while 
a single man was beating them to death with a jaw- 
bone we can hardly imagine. It would seem some of 
them ought to have been able to get in a blow once in 
a while. That jaw-bone must have been a peculiar one, 
for after beating a thousand men to death with it, Sam- 
son being exhausted and thirsty, asked the Lord for a 
drink, whereupon '* God clave a.hollowin the jaw, 
and there came water thereout "and Samson refreshed 
himself. It is not often jaw-bones can be found with 
such fountains of water in them. That specimen of 
jaw-bone seemed capable of dispensing both life 
and death. The ass that owned it must have been re- 
markable, and the jaw-bone still more so. 

Samson was probably satisfied with these achieve- 
ments, for twenty years passed before we hear any- 
thing further relative to his feats of strength, until 
he went to Gaza and had intercourse with a prosti- 
tute, and when the Gazites would catch him, at mid- 
night he got up and walked off with the gates and 
gate-posts of the city as an ordinary man would with 
an armful of oven- wood. 

Like most men in modern times, he had a decided 
fondness for women, and they got him into great 
trouble. He fell in love with a fancy woman named 
Delilah and was fond of dallying with her, and going to 



SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 6 

sleep with his head in her lap. After a number of trials 
on her part to learn where his great strength lay, he 
misleading her on several occasions, she at length 
wheedled him into divulging the secret that his great 
strength lay in his hair ; so when he was again asleep 
she called in a barber or hair-cutter and had his head 
shaved clean, and alas, when he awoke he found his 
strength was gone. The Philistines easily took him 
and plucked his eyes out, bound him with fetters and 
made him grind in the prison-house. 

But his hair at length grew out again, and he be- 
came strong as before ; and when the Philistines gath- 
ered together in great numbers to offer sacrifice to 
their God, and to rejoice that he had delivered Samson 
unto them, he was called by the people to make sport 
for them. 

He was placed between the main pillars of the tem- 
ple ; and while the building was full of men and wo- 
men and three thousand were on the roof, he took one 
pillar in his right hand and the other in his left, and 
bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell 
upon the lords and upon the people, completely crush- 
ing them to death, and himself also. 

Now we are free to say we do not believe this re- 
markable narration, which is detailed by an unknown 
il person, with no corroboration or substantiation save 
that found in the Jewish scriptures. We do not be- 
lieve the man ever lived who was able to take the col- 
umns of a large temple, one in each hand, and hurl the 
structure to the ground. It is too big a story for our 
credulity to accept as truth. There have been many 
strong, muscular men in the w^orld, but none capable 
of performing such a feat as that, though their hair 
was ten feet in length. By the by, it is not in keep- 



6 SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 

ing with the known physiological laws that hair im- 
parts immense strength, or that the loss of it produces 
weakness. There is no special connection between 
the hair and the muscles. The hair is a desirable cover- 
ing for the head, and when well dressed is regarded 
as an ornament, and in health usually grows luxuri- 
antly, but it was never known to impart muscular 
strength. 'Tis safe to judge of the past by what is 
known of the present. 

Samson is often said to be a plagiarism or 
copy of Hercules, who was also a mythical 
character, to whom was imputed very remarkable 
strength, and who performed astonishing feats. In 
his infancy while still in the cradle he is said to have 
strangled venomous serpents, which the jealous Hera 
sent to destroy him. He is also famed for twelve pro- 
digious exploits performed by himself called * 'labors,'' 
among which were the slaying of a hydra, a boar, a 
lion, the harpies and other monsters. He had a big 
club which he is said to have wielded in a most fear- 
ful manner. The cleansing of the Augean stables was 
a feat which has immortalized him. We see there are 
some points of resemblance between Hercules and 
Samson, especially in the leonine part of their history. 
Both had slain their lions. Both also seemed to have 
been susceptible to the influence of the softer sex. 
Hercules was enslaved bv a passion for Omphale of 
Lydia who made him spin for her and wear her clothes. 
The influence she exercised over him was much the 
same that Delilah wielded over Samson ; thus we see 
the strongest men are liable in some points to become 
very weak. Hercules was said to have come to his 
death by putting on a poisoned shirt given him as a 



SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS. 7 

love-charm by his false wife, who had received it from ^ 
the centaur Nessus. 

With the exception of Samson's last feat of pulling 
the temple down on the heads of ten thousand peo- 
\ le with three thousand more upon the roof, Hercules 
was undoubtedly the greater man of the two, but in that 
crowning exploit in Samson's career there can be no 
doubt he threw Hercules completely into the shade. 
There is an old saying that *'the one who tells the 
last story has the advantage." 

While we accord to every person the right to believe 
either in Hercules or Samson if they choose to do so, 
we claim for ourselves the right to doubt. We cannot 
see that we have any more ground to belieye there 
were such men, than Jack the giant-killer, or Sinbad 
the Sfflor. Some unknown writers have stated that 
such persons once lived, and that is all we know^ about 
them. We are at liberty to believe in them, or not 
just as the proof strikes us. We of course will have 
to be classed among the unbelievers. 



"THE TRUTH SEEKER" 

Is an outspoken and fearless advocate of Science, Mor- 
als. Free Thought and General Reform. 

D, M. BENNETT, Editor and Publisher, 

335 Broadway. N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts^. No. 21.] 



The Great Wrestling Match. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



In noticing the extraordinary Bible stories which 
are too impropable to gain our credulity, it is fitting 
that we should not omit the most remarkable 
wrestling match that has ever been reported; the 
parties to which were God and his favored servant, 
Jacob, as narrated in the thirty-second chapter of 
Genesis. 

After Jacob had tarried twenty years with his tath- 
er-in-law, Laban, securing his two wives, and by a 
system of sharp practice in cattie raising, which the 
world has never anywhere else exhibited, and became 
very wealthy in flocks, herds, camels, and asses, it 
seems God had an interview with him in a dream and 
instructed him to get out of that land and return to 
his own kindred. 

He, accordingly, when his father-in-law was absent 
from home, shearing sheep, stole away, taking all the 
wealth he claimed to have made from Laban's posses- 



2 THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH. 

sions, and his wife Racliel stole, also, the gods and im- 
ages that were her father's. Thus they early showed 
the disposition for acquiring property — honestly or 
dishonestly — a reputation which their descendants for 
centuries have persistently maintained. 

When Jacob neared his father's residence, he seem 
ed to have some misgivings as to the kind of recep- 
tion he would receive from his brother Esau, prob- 
ably growing out of the sharp game he had played 
upon him many years before, in the matter of the 
birth-right and the mess of pottage; and, with his 
characteristic shrewdness, he sent his servants with 
valuable presents to Esau to placate him and allay 
any unfriendly feeling that might linger in his breast 
toward his long absent brother Jacob. The ruse 
seems to have been successful, for Esau went out 
and met Jacob in a commendable brotherly spirit, 
quite contrary to the fears the latter had entertained. 

The most remarkable part of this narrative is the 
account of the exraordinary wrestling match between 
God and Jacob during the night immediately succeed- 
ing the day on which the presents aforesaid were 
sent. Jacob seemed to be fearful, notwithstanding 
the very generous presents he had made to Esau, as to 
the reception he would meet with, and he rose in the 
night and sent his two wives, his two concubines and 
his eleven children and all his treasures over the ford 
of Jabbok, and he was left alone, and God came in 
and wrestled with him till the break of day. The 
match seems not to have been conducted precisely 
upon the rules which have since governed the prize 
ring and boxing and wrestling matches. Usually 
seconds are chosen and an umpire appointed to see 
that fair play to both sides is secured. In this case 



THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH. 6 

there w^ere no seconds nor umpire— the two wrestlers 
were alone, with none to witness the contest which 
for several hours was so evenly kept up. The Bible 
does aot state whether this match was made up on a 
wager or whether the two wrestled all night simply 
for sport. 

Although in no other parts of the Bible are we told 
of any remarkable muscular strength or bravery ex- 
hibited by Jacob, he must have been one of the 
most powerful athletes ever known, to hold an even 
contest with God so vigorously for several hours. It 
may easily be supposed that any of the most noted 
acrobats, gymnasts, or prize-fighters that ever lived, 
would be unable to hold God an even contest for 
hours, if God did his best. If he would consent to 
meet the ablest of them in a contest of this kind, had 
we money to risk on the result, we should bet on God 
every time. 

Jacob, however, must have the credit of acquitting 
himself remarkably well in the encounter, for God 
seems to have gained nothing upon him until he took 
an unfair advantage and put Jacob's hiph out of joint. 
By modern rules such conduct would be called */foul,'* 
and would forfeit the game and the ''stakes." But God, 
doubtless, considered it fai7\ or he would not have 
resorted to that course, especially as daylight had 
come, and it was important he should be ofl. He 
asked Jacob to let him go, but Jacob refused, unless 
God would comply with his demands, so the putting 
out of his hip was, perhaps, after all, justifiable. 

We recollect in our boyhood days, wrestling was 
tabooed by the strictest teachers of morality as being 
of an immoral and objectionable tendency, but if God 
engaged in it, and gave lessons to a person he was so 



4 THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH. 

partial to as he was to Jacob, we cannot see upon 
what grounds the exercise can be pronounced im- 
moral. What was done by God and Jacob would 
seem to be good enough for anybody. 

In this instance of God's wrestling with Jacob for 
hours, he must have been more thoroughly *' material- 
ized " than on usual occasions when he exhibited 
himself. We have accounts of several instances 
where he made himself visible and talked with men ; 
as in the Garden of Eden, where he walked in the 
cool of the day and conversed with Adam and Eve, 
afterwards with Cain, after he murdered Abel, after- 
wards with Noah in reference to building the ark and 
shipping his live cargo. He subsequenly appeared to 
Moses, first, as fire in the burning bush, afterwards 
on Mount Sinai during the forty days they were up 
there together cutting the ten commandments on 
tables of stone. On still another occasion, he showed 
Moses his back parts. Why he should show his back 
parts and not his front parts, the account does not 
state, except that no man could see his face and live. 
That he had front parts as well as back parts, there 
cannot be a reasonable doubt, for no personage was 
ever seen with back parts but what had front parts 
also. 

He consented, however, to put Moses in the cleft 
of the rock and place his hand over him while he was 
passing by, letting him see his back parts only, as just 
stated. It looks to a natural-minded person as though 
there was a clash between these statements as to God's 
being seen. That God was seen on several occasions, 
we have the most positive Bible assurances, and when 
John says, ** No man hath seen him at any time," and 
Paul says, **No man hath seen him or can see him," 



THE GKEAT WRESTLING MATCH. 5 

it would appear they had borne false testimony, or 
that the person who made the other statements had 
done so. Though these passages from ** God's 
Word" may seem contradictory to a natural man, to 
one having spiritual discernment it is to be supposed 
they are perfectly consistent. 

In this wrestling case, though God saw fit to put 
Jacob's hip out of joint, he did not leave him in that 
unpleasant predicament without doing something for 
him in return. Before this time he had simply been 
called Jacob ; but God now gave him the name of 
"Israel." Jacob may have considered this full com- 
pensation for the injury inflicted, but for our own 
part, we would not have our hip put out of joint for 
a dozen new names. The two evidently parted in the 
best of spirits, and Jacob called the place '*Peniel, 
for I have seen God face to face and my life is pre- 
served." 

The question may arise: If Moses could not see 
God's face and live, how could Jacob ? It must be 
borne in mind, however, that they were two different 
men. If Jacob had the muscular strength to hold out 
against God for hours in a wrestling match, it is not 
improbable he would have strength enough of the 
optic nerves to see his face, and not die f ron the effects 
of it. 

Seriously, these Bible stories of God's wrestling 
with men, of his showing his back parts, of his talk- 
ing face to face with various individuals are signifi- 
cant of the crude age of the world in which they were 
written. At that time it was supposed the earth was 
the centre of the Universe, that it was flat and station- 
ary, and that the sun and moon made daily circuits 
around it, and that the stars were small bodies of 



6 THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH. 

light placed in a solid firmament a short distance 
from the earth. Their ideas of God were equally 
as crude and imperfect. They supposed him a 
being, having the form and appearance of a man, who 
had a throne above the firmament from which he 
could oversee all parts of the earth, and who spent 
much of his time in war and bloodshed, leading one 
nation against another in the most bloody conflicts, 
and often betraying one army into the hands of an- 
other more cruel, without any adequate reason, and 
frequently putting scores of thousands to death on a 
single occasion. 

Since the world has learned to have more enlarged 
and correct views of the Universe ; that the earth is 
but a very small portion of the solar system, and that 
the solar system is but a very small fraction of the 
Universe — that systems and constellations fill the im- 
mensity of space in all directions as far as the mind 
can think, many Have come to entertain grander 
conceptions of deity than those crude notions of him 
held by Jacob, and Moses, a,nd Joshua. 

When it is remembered that the earth not only re- 
volves on its axis at the rate of one thousand miles an 
hour, but that in its course around the sun it flies 
with a velocity of more than a thousand miles a min- 
ute, and that the entire solar system is rushing with 
an accelerated velocity in another direction around a 
much greater and far distant sun, the inconsistency 
of the idea of a local God, seated on a fixed throne 
in some particular point in the heavens can be easily 
comprehended. 

When we realize that the same deity that presides 
in our land must necessarily be equally present on 
every side of our globe and through it, and not only 



THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH. 7 

the same in the sun, and moon and pJanets, but in the 
numberless other systems and worlds, in the distant 
constellation of Orion and millions of others, still 
billions of limes further removed — in all these trillions 
of worlds just as much as here — we can perhaps have 
a faint conception of the utter absurdity of the theory 
of olden times that God is an organized being, who 
occupies a single point in immensity; that his atten- 
tion is given specially to the affairs of a single nation 
of roving brigands, that he was fickle, cruel, revenge- 
ful and malicious, and that he spent any portion of 
his time in a wrestling contest with Jacob, or in show- 
ing his back parts to Moses. 

The more appreciative are our ideas of this bound- 
less Universe, the more expanded will be our concep- 
tion of an unorganized, impersonal, ever-present 
Deity, wherever matter and worlds and space exist. 



The Truth Seeker Tracts. 

If you want terse, trenchant reading matter, to act as 
** Eye-openers," in doing " Missionary Work," convenient 
to hand to neighbors, friends and all enq.uiring persons, 
send for a supply of these valuable little evangels of 
truth. 

They range in price from one to ten cents each. A lib- 
eral discount is made to those purchasing in Quantities. 
They are so low in price, that thousands of generous- 
hearted persons can afford to buy them for gratuitous 
distribution. Too many of them cannot be spread broad- 
cast over our land. Sent, post-paid, by mail. 

Published by D. M. BENNETT. 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 22.] 



A DISCUSSION 



BETWEEN 



ELDER J. C. SHELTOX, of Alabama, 



AND 



THE EDITOR OF THE TRUTH SEEKER, 
UPON noah's flood and other topics. 



[The followmg appeared in The Tbuth Seekee of 
March 15. 1875. 



We recently received the following pioup, but not 
very gentlemanly letter, from a zealous Christian Elder 
in Alabama. If he had a little less faith and some- 
what more of good manners, we think he would be 
considerably benefited by the change. We forgive 
him for the lack of courtesy he exhibits, presuming 
he has done as well as he knew how. It is by no 
means uncommon for members of the clergy to forget 
to be gentlemen, and to deem it perfectly right to be 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 



I 



insolent toward unbelievers. We *' consider the 
source." etc. : 

Bbooksville. Blount Co., Ala,, Feb. 10, 1875, 

Mb. D. M. Bennett :— Sir: Some of your poor, foolish, 
deluded readers of your abominable stuff, called The 
Tbuth Seekeb, handed me No. 4 Yol. 2d, printed Oct. 15th 
1874, in which you tried to make sport of the Bible account 
of the flood. Now we don't wish to try to enter into any 
arguments with a man who does not believe, or is liar 
enough to say there is no God, but will simply state that 
the power that brought on the flood, first created the an- 
imals and also Noah and his family, and of course that 
Power was sufficient to preserve those animals on the 
amount of food that Noah was directed to take into the 
Ark. But a man of your great self-conceited sense and 
learning might say there never was any flood. 

I say there was just such a flood in times past as is rep- 
resented in the Bible, and I am going to prove it by your 
Ood (Matter), Close to me in Blount county, Ala., is a 
man by the name of H. Scott, who lives on a small free- 
stone gravely ridge, This man Scott, last Summer digs a 
well, close to his house on this small ridge, and when he 
^ets down some 36 or 37 feet, digging through clay and 
gravel, he comes to a chestnut stump that has been broken 
oft' from the main body of the tree, also limbs of trees im- 
bedded in rich soil some two and a half or three feet 
thick, with a black, brackish water oozing out of the soil. 
He continued his well below this, through clay and gravel 
some thirty feet, and got no water, he then goes about 
one hundred yards farther on this same ridge and digs 
another well, and he comes to the same black soil with 
timber, &c., which hundreds of people can witness to. 
Also there is no large water course in twenty miles of 
these wells. Also there was another well dug in four 
miles of this place, and there was an Elevated ridge west of 
this well close by: some thirty or forty feet down in the 
well the man came to a poplar log near two feet through. 
There was a skeptical man in our county that did not be- 
lieve in a Bible flood, and he also would not believe that 
the log was in the well until he went down and examined 
for himself. These evidences show conclusively, that 



noah's flood. 3 

there was a great flood once, that washed the dirt and 
gravel from the high ridges and formed these small ridges 
on top of this soil and timber where these wells have 
been dug. 

But Sir, you in your self-conceited logic, will say that 
this timber would not last from the time of Noah's flood 
until now. But my logic says that when matter of any 
kind is entirely excluded from the action of the air that 
it will remain in that condition thousands of ages. So 
the Christian has abundant proof of the flood, and the 
truth of the Bible, but you have nothing but your Infidel 
prejudices against it. If a man will cavel at the Bible, and 
Christian Religion, he must do so as much as the devil 
will give him power to do. There are some men who can 
find no wisdom anywhere, except in their own heads. 
Such men, however, are no judges of wisdom. We should 
not set up a Mouse to explain the great phenomenon of 
the Earth's creation and formation. It is necessary that a 
man should be honest at least, and have a share of com- 
mon sense before Christians need to discuss with them. 
A man that is born with his eyes open, and can look 
around on all created things, and say there is no God, no 
Christ, no Hell, no pure and vital Christian religion, is 
either a fool or a notorious lying Monster, who would 
wantonly tear down everything that would give a foun- 
dation to truth, morality, virtue and a civil Government ; 
and none but poor, deluded, sinful, degraded men will 
take, read or countenance such men's trashy writings. 

Sir, your trashy Infidel notions can do the true Chris- 
tian no harm, and especially in the world to come, be- 
cause, according to your teaching of things, even bad 
Christians and the Heathens of the Heath will have as 
quiet a sleep in a state of nonentity, when this life ends, 
as you Infidels, but on the other hand, if you are wrong, 
an eternal hell will be your portion. What is the use for 
an Infidel to say anything about the Bible, when accord- 
ing to their notions, mankind is just as safe without it as 
with it ? Sir, we are fearful you are making merchandize 
of men's souls, and we are fearful you don't care so 5ou 
make a living by it in the present world. It is the blind 
leading the blind, and all will fall into the ditch. It would 



"be far better for you, if you would leave off your writing 
even if you had to take hold of the plow and the grubbing 
hoe for an honest living. 

Do just as you please with this composition, and be 
sure to read it every night before you say your Prayers. 

Yours in Christian sincerity, Eld. J. 0. Shelton. 

Reply. — Our Christian Elder evidently thinks he 
has given us a *' knock down " argument in favor of 
Noah's flood, but if he has nothing better to offer in 
proof of it than a poplar log or two in a gravel ridge, 
we fear the world will still remain in doubt as to that 
remarkable freshet. Doubtless he has stated the facts 
correctly as to the finding of the logs, and it is also a 
good argument that at some unknown time, in the past, 
a flood or floods have occured in that locality. That lo- 
cal floods have taken place in nearly all parts of this 
and other countries there are too many proofs to ad- 
mit of a doubt. That great changes in the topography 
of the American continent have occured in the past 
we have the strongest evidence. These have been 
produced by floods, and alluvial deposits in the 
mouths and the deltas of rivers, and more especially 
by tremendous upheavals that have from time to time 
occurred. In very early times the American con- 
tinent was, doubtless, largely under water. That 
much of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wis- 
consin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and other 
States, were once thus submerged, there is abundance 
of evidence. The character of the prairie soil presents 
strong proof that it was once the bed of the sea. Sea 
shells have often been found in hills and elevated 
grounds one hundred feet at least above present wa- 
ter lines. 

The upheavals of this continent have been tremen* 
dous ; the extensive mountain ranges of the Allegha^ 



noah's flood. 6 

nies, the Andes, and the Rocky mountains, with the 
volcanoes and volcanic debris so frequently found, 
afford the strongest evidence of this. This, in part, 
is the explanation of the deposits of gravel, earth and 
rock so often found over the coal strata of Pennsyl- 
vania and other coal districts. That these deposits or 
stratifications have been caused to some extent by lo- 
cal floods, but far more by upheavals, there is no room 
for doubt. Prostrate trees of different kinds of wood 
— similar to the cases mentioned by our correspondent 
— have frequently been found in various parts of the 
country. Whole trees even, perfect in form, though 
changed in character, have been found imbedded in 
strata of coal, but it is in nowise probable they were 
indebted to Noah's flood for such imbedment. 

We readily admit the facts asserted about the buri- 
ed logs, but utterly fail to see how they prove that in 
Noah's time the earth was covered over its entire sur- 
face with water to the depth of five miles ; that the 
animals and birds from all latitudes and zones of the 
earth gathered together of their own accord, and vol- 
untarily marched into the ark in pairs or sevens, lions 
and calves, wolves and lambs, dogs and rabbits, cats 
and mice, hawks and chickens, swallows and flies, 
poisonous serpents and gentle doves, in all, over three 
hundred thousand animals — fowls and insects of all 
varieties of character and disposition — crowded into 
an ark pitched without and within, with a single door 
and window, and they closed, and thus deprived of 
air, light and appropriate food, they remained over 
a year — Noah's family, stench, filth and all. If our 
friend's poplar log convinces him that all this occurred, 
perhaps it also reveals to him where all the water 
came from that covered the earth to the depth of five 



n n(»ah's flood. 

miles; where it was stored previous to its descent, 
and where it went to when dry land again appeared! 
He is probably one of those credulous mortals full of 
** saving faith," who can just as easily believe that 
Jonah swallowed the whale, as that the whale swal- 
lowed Jonah, if the book only says so. We, will, how- 
ever, take this occasion to assure Elder Shelton that, 
in maintaining so zealously that the flood occurred 
just as related in Genesis, he is entirely antagonistic 
to the position on this subject now held by his more in- 
telligent brethren of the cloth in this locality. We fear 
he is getting behind the times. No intelligent ortho- 
dox clergyman of New York or Brooklyn now claims 
that Ihe Bible account of the deluge must be undev- 
stood literally. They hold Genesis to be merely a poem, 
or fable, or legend, and that it is not longer to be re- 
garded as incumbent on th« Christian to believe its 
literal language. Rev. De Witt Talmage, one of our 
most prominent clergymen, not long since said quite 
as much in his pulpit, and insisted that skeptics and 
Liberals in representing enlightened Christian clergy- 
men as adhering to the letter of the Genesis narrative 
were wrong and slanderous, and that a very small 
portion of the learned; sensible clergy now preach the 
Bible account of creation and the flood. In the ad- 
vances made by science, it is diJQBlcult for a man of 
sense and education, though he be a clergyman, to 
longer insist that the story narrated in Genesis is true. 
Brother Shelton, the world is progressing ; the old 
fogy notions of the past are gradually yielding to the 
good sense of to-day ; mythology and fable are giving 
place to scientific truths and reason. You had better 
study up a little, and take a few steps forward, or we 



noah's flood. 7 

fear you will be left away behind among the stumps 
and pitfalls of the Dark Ages. 



[The following appeared in The Truth Seeker of 
May 1.1875. J 



Elder Shelton Once More. 

Our pious, Hard-shell Alabama Elder has again fa- 
vored us with the following brilliant effusions. While 
we cannot for a moment doubt his implicit faith in 
the big stories of the Bible and the dogmas of ortho- 
dox Christianity, we regret he has not studied 
more closely the manners of a gentleman. Why need 
he call attention to our long ears ? By the way, does 
he really know we have long ears ? Will he risk a 
pint of peanuts that, by actual measurement, our 
ears are longer than his ? We make room for what 
the pious man of faith has to say. 

Bkooksville, Blount Co.. Ala., April 5th, 1875. 
Mr. D. M. Bennett, Sir:—1 would not write to you at 
present, but seeing some of your Philosophical nonsense, 
together with some of your low, vulgar, satiracal slang, 
used by you in the place of argument against my Ai tide 
written in defense of a Scriptural Flood, I now pro- 
ceed to write, not that I expect to convince such a wise 
man as you are, who has in his own estimation got all the 
Oracles of Wisdom treasured up in his own cranium. 
But I write in order to try to reach some of your readers » 
whom I trust have not gone so far away from the reveal- 
ed word of God. I feel sorry for all men that are in total 
darkness and are lost. Now, Sir, you tried to answer my 
Article written on fourth page Truth Seeker, printed 
March 15th, 1875, by first speaking of my harshness and 
uncourtiousness in my argument. I will make somo 



S NOAH'S FLOOD. 



I 



opologies for that, by mearly stating that Christians some- 
times have to deal very roughly with Long Eared Brutes, 
itow, Sir, if a man will but once admit that there is a Cre- 
ator, who has created all tilings, he must admit that this 
same Creator can do anything that he wants to do, even if 
it is to bring on a big flood, such as was in Noah's time. 
Now we believe that the flood was altogether a miracle 
wrought out by God in order to show wicked, unbelieving 
men, in the early existence of the world, that he was God. 
Now Mr. Editor if God had not performed such hugeifir- 
acles, all along in the early age of the world, men never 
would have been convinced that there was a God. They 
all would have been poor, ignorant, benighted creatures, 
such as Infidel writers and Deists are in the present day. 
Secondly, you tried to meet our arguments by stating 
that there has been some tremendous upheavals in the 
Earth, which has caused Timber, Animals, etc., to bo 
found in places deep under the Earth. Now, Sir, I deny 
that there has ever been any upheavals of the Earth since 
the flood. The Bible does tell us that the fountain of the 
:great deep was broken up. and this is the only upheavals 
that ever was. Sir, I defy you to prove by living witnesses 
that any such upheavals have ever taken place in North 
America. I am not going to allow you to bring up the 
blind ideas of philosophy. I want you to understand that 
a Learned fool, and a philosophical fool, is the biggest 
fool of all fools. Don't talk to me of volcanic upheavals 
in the old world, which only turn up Dirt and Rock 
enough to make an opening for the melted Lava to issue 
iorth, that argument will be too thin for a man of your 
paper. 

Again, you ask where did such an amount of water 
<»ome from to make this mighty flood, and where did it go 
to when the flood was over, &c. That is a mighty foolish 
question to ask a faithful Christian. The Christian knows 
and has faith enough to believe that God can prepare 
ivater enough to drown a thousand such worlds as this, 
if he saw proper by that act, to convince all intelligent 
t)eings that he is a Sovereign God. See how many intelli- 
gent men and women that have come into the world since 
the flood, that have been noble-hearted Christians in con- 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 9 

seQuence of the every-day proof of that flood being found 
all over the Earth. 

Again you ask, how is it possible for the number of an- 
imals that was taken into the Ark to live when there was 
but one door and window in the Ark. Sir, we answer you 
by saying that they were sustained by the same pother that 
preserved Jonah in the whale's belly. We can only ac- 
count for it on the ground that it is a miracle wrought out 
by God, in order to save a remnant to repeople the earth 
again with better people. It seems, Mr. Editor, that the 
people before the flood had becoms to a vast extent just 
such unbelievers and Deists as you and The Teuth 
Seeker are, which justly enkindled the wrath of God 
against them, and he determined to sweep them off and 
save eight christians, to wit, Noah and his family, in or- 
der to re-people the earth with better folks. And Sir, I 
will say to you to-day, that if the people of the world as a 
general thing were to become believers in your doctrine, 
God would get awfully mad at us again, and would sweep 
us off again by a flood of fire or water in less than twenty- 
four hours. But we are thankful that there is still a few 
Josephs, Elijahs, Rebeccas and Marys in the world. 
Though Christianity has its ^^ecTiers, the world of man- 
kind knows that they are only Infldels at heart, while they 
hiypocritically take upon tliem the cloke of Christianity. 
And Mr, Editor you say a great deal in your collums 
about ^eecTier, in order as you think to, to throw a slur on 
Christians. Sir, I say to you that all men would more or 
less become Beechers if they believed as you do. Beech- 
er is just such a man as you are, at heart, an unheliever, 
only he tries to put on a Christian cloak to deceive the 
world. Sir, if your doctrine of Infidelity was believed by 
every body, it would make miserable Prostitutes of the 
female sex and miserable Beechers of the men, because 
the fear of God and a burning hell would not be before 
their Eyes. Sir, your system of belief makes miserable 
cut-throats, and robbers, out of men and miserable base 
creatures out of women. This is the reason why, in Ala- 
bama, such men as you are not allowed to give testimony 
in open court against any one ; from the fact that the pub- 
lic does not believe that such a man would swear the 
truth, especially if he was interested in the case. And 



10 noah's flood. 



I 



j^isth^too. from the very fact, that there is^no foundation 
in such men for the truth, from the fact that there is no 
fear of God and his judgments in their minds, eonse- 
•iuently we had as well swear one of those creatures that 
Baalam rode, and expect to get the truth out of it, as to 
swear an Infidel. Now, Sir you profess not to believe one 
word that is written in the Bible. Now, we know what 
you don't believe, now please tell us what you do believe. 
And we defy you to undertake with truth to prove what 
you think you do believe. Now if you and your readers 
won't have the Bible, please give us something that is bet- 
ter, as you go along, or the world won't have it. 

Now Sir, if you undertake to reply to this Article, be 
serious about it, and don't try to poke fun at us and the 
Bible instead of argument. If there is any sollid argu- 
Lucut about you, let us have it, and don't give us supposi- 
tions for truths. Eldee J. C. Shelton. 

Reply. — There! — if that is not a regular Simon-pure 
Christian letter, what is it? It abounds in faith 
and ignorance^ and these are certainly Christian char- 
acteristics. True, there are forty or fifty errors of or- 
thography, capitalization, and bad grammar, and a 
dozen or tvv^o misrepresentations and prevarications, 
or, "not to put too fine a point upon it" — lies. But 
those are not un- Christian ; they are just what the 
system is made up of. 

The Elder has spread himself considerably, and ev- 
idently wants us to reply to him. He is specially^ 
anxious that we be serious about it, and use solid ar- 
guments. We hope we shall treat his letter in a prop- 
er spirit, and be at least as courteous in language as he 
has l)een to us. We do not wish to be outdone by 
him in politeness, truthfulnjsss, or gentlemanliness. 

We will notice some of his inaccuracies: 

First. He intimates we used low, vulgar slang in 
our former reply to him. It is wrong for the dominie 
to so misrepresent us. It is neither just nor true. 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 11 

We used no slang nor improper language towards iiim. 

Second. He says in our '' own estimation, we have 
all the oracles of wisdom treasured up in our own 
cranium." He could ftot have made a greater mis- 
take. We are painfully sensible that there is veiy 
much that we do not know^, and we here acknowledge 
the fact with becoming humility. 

Third. He says "there have been no upheavals 
since the flood." Wrong again! Earthquakes have 
many times taken place. The suiface of the earth 
has frequently been elevated in some places and de- 
pressed in others. Islands have risen in the ocean 
that were once unknown. 

Fourth. He says " a learned fool and a philosoph- 
ical fool Is the biggest of all fools." False and ab- 
surd ! The most of a fool is he wiio knows nothing. 
If he has learning and philosophy, he certainly is 
less a fool than he who possesses them not. The El- 
der must take care that his readers do not class him 
with those who have neither learning nor philosophy. 

Fifth. He says " the Christian knows that God can 
prepare water enough to drown one thousand such 
worlds as this." The Elder rather stretches the truth 
here. The Christian lvno\^ nothing of the kind! 
Let him contract a little and make it five hundred. 
That number will, we think, a good deal more than 
cover the Christian's absolute knowledge. 

Sixth. He attempts to prove the flood by the story 
of Jonah and the whale. Ah ! Elder, that will not 
do! You might as well undertake to prove " Old 
Mother Hubbard" by " Jack the Giant-Killer." 

Seventh. He says '* there were just such unbelievers 
before the flood as we and The Truth Seeker are." 
Another mistake. The Elder is simply drawing upon 



12 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

his imagination. He has not the papers for that 
Our sort had not come into fashion at that early day. 

Eighth. He says *'God got mad at his creatures." 
We assert that this is false, and very uojust to God. 
True, the Bible makes such a statement, but it is wrong. 
God does not get mad nor fly into a passion. All such 
statements, wherever found, are grossly incorrect. 
God never gets mad, nor runs crazy. He would be 
uniit to govern the Universe if that was his character. 

Ninth. He says w^e are such a man as Beecher is. 
Has it come to this ? Is it our fate to be thus accused ? 
Are our grey hairs thus to be brought down in sor- 
row to the grave ? We call on the Elder for proof. 
Let him show when we have ever been in the Beecher 
business, or the paroxysmal business. What families 
have we broken up ? What Elizabeths have we 
ever been after ? When did vve ever perjure ourselves? 
We have received many stabs and thrusts, but this is 
the unkindest cut of all. 

Tenth. He says ' ' Infidelity makes miserable prosti- 
tutes of the female sex." A greater falsehood never 
w^as uttered ! The women who have embraced Infidel- 
ity have been pure and virtuous, and ornaments to 
society. We have only to point to Harriet Martineau, 
Margaret Fuller, Frances Wright, and thousands now 
living, to pi:ove the Elder a clerical slanderer and fal- 
sifier. What a cheek the man must have to claim all 
the virtue for Christian women, and deny it to Infi- 
dels, when w^ant of chastity exists in almost every 
church in the land. A paper can hardly be taken up 
now, but what we find an account of some sister in 
some church being on too intimate sexual relations 
witn the shepherd of the fold, some godly clergyman. 
And this Elder has the assurance to tell us that Infi- 



13 

deiity will make all the women do that way. He 
ought to be ashamed of such vile slanders. 

Eleventh. He says our system of belief ' 'makes mis- 
erable cut-throats and robbers of men." False as hell! 
Not a word of truth in it, and none but a liar can 
make such an assertion. Those who have had the in- 
telligence to doubt the errors of superstition, and the 
honesty to avow their sentiments, have been the no- 
blest men the world has known. We claim as ours.^- 
all who have not believed in Christianity, and we are 
proud to acknowledge them the noblest moral heroes 
and benefactors of our race. We begin back with 
Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Zeno, Aristotle, Marcus 
Antoninus, Cicero, Seneca, and come down to Hobbes, 
Bolingbroke, Condorcet, Spinoza, Descartes, Gibbon, 
Diderot, Yoltaire, Yolney, Shelley, Helvetius, Goethe, 
Schiller, Humboldt, Byron, Paine, Franklin, Jefferson, 
Ethan Allen, Parker, J. Stuart Mill, Buckle, Lecky, 
Tylor, Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Tyndall, Helm- 
holtz, Lincoln, Sumner, Schmidt, Draper, Fiske, and 
a host of others that might be named. They are among 
the grandest men that ever lived. They were not 
Christians, and did not require the fear of a devil nor 
hell to keep them from being cut-throats and robbers, 
as the Elder tacitly admits Christians do. 

Who are they who people our prisons and peniten- 
tiaries? — Christians. Infidels are seldom found there. 
Who are the murderers? — Christians, or they become 
so after the deed is done. Very few Infidels are num- 
bered among the murderers. Who have been the 
cut-throats of the world ? Who have shed the most 
blood ? — Christians, two to one. They have taken 
scores of millions of lives, and caused human blood to 
flow in rivers, for centuries together. When have In- 



14 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

fidels done anything like this ? Talk, indeed, about 
the great virtue of Christianity, and the bloodthirsti- 
ness of Infidels! The thing is preposterous. There 
are no more honest, honorable class of men than Infi- 
dels, who discard alike the fear of hell, a devil, and a 
maddened Deity, who flies into a rage at trifles, and 
kills and destroys innocent people and children by 
thousands and hundreds of thousands. No class of 
men excel Christians in villainy, dishonesty, and ras- 
cality. No nations are more dishonest and unjust 
than Christian nations. 

We were a few days ago conversing with a gentle- 
man connected with the Navy, and stationed many 
years in Japan. He had been nearly two hundred 
miles in the interior. We asked him about the relig- 
ion and habits of the country. He informed us a 



and disbelievers in revelation or a personal God. 
Christianity, though it has sent many missionaries 
there, has obtained very slight foothold. He assured 
us the people are very intelligent, virtuous and happy. 
Stealing, robbery and murder seldom occur. Locks 
or fastenings are not generally used on dwellings or 
stores. The goods and chattels of one are rarely dis- 
turbed by another. Though some of the lower class 
go naked, adultery and sexual promiscuity are almost 
unknown. In heathen China, also, travelers tell us 
the people are very industrious and honest. Stores 
are often left open and unattended. The goods 
are marked, and if a person wants anything he leaves 
money to the amount of the price and takes the goods. 
How would such a system answer in any Christian 
country in the world ? How long ^^ould the goods 
remain ? How much money would be left in place of 



NOAH S FLOOD. 15 

them ? The Elder must try and keep nearer the truth. 
Christian vh'tue and Christian honesty will not do to 
tie to, as too many have cause to know. 
^ Twelfth. He says '' Infidels have no foundation for 
truth," and argues that consequently they must swear 
to a lie. This is false and base. Infidels have as 
great respect for the truth as any class of men that 
live. They love truth, honor and virtue for their 
own sakes, not because of an angry God whose judg- 
ments may be hurled upon them. Give us one real 
lover of truth who follows it from the reverence and 
respect he bears it, rather than six cringing slaves 
who only tell the truth from fear of some God or some 
Devil. 

Thirteenth. Elder Shelton says we profess not to 
believe a word that is in the Bible. That is an *' awful 
whopper." We do n't profess any such thing. We 
believe many words and many sentences the Bible 
contains, just as much as the Elder himself does. It 
is not difficult for us to believe such passages as these: 
** Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among 
wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness de- 
part from him." *' Wisdom excelleth folly as far as 
light excelleth darkness." '*The churning of milk 
bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose 
bringeth forth blood." These passages are not per- 
haps as elegant as many quotations that might be 
made from Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, and scores 
of writers, but nevertheless we believe them, and 
many other similar extracts, not because they are 
in the Bible, but because they contain the evidence of 
truth. 

We do not therefore take the Bible as a guide in 
the study of astronomy, geology, chemistry, physi- 



16 noah'^s flood. 

ology, botany, or natural history. We do not look 
into it to learn the multiplication table, or how to ex- 
tract the square root. We find it of no use in agricul- 
tural pursuits, in the art of printing, or the science of 
telegraphy. It gives no instruction relative to rail- 
roads, or the power of steam. AVe find nothing in it 
touching photography, galvanism, the telescope, the 
spectroscope, or the microscope, but a great deal 
about wars, carnage, and bloodshed, and much of ob- 
scenity and vulgarity. We judge it w^as written in a 
barbarous age of the world by men of limited knowl- 
edge, and if it ever was adapted to the wants of men 
in any age of the world, it was long ago; and that if it 
was of any great value then it has long ceased to be 
so. We cannot for a moment believe God ever wrote 
it, or employed any other persons to write it. It is 
doing great discredit' to him to charge it upon him. 
To do him justice in this matter is one reason we oc--- 
cupy the position we do. 

Elder Shelton's letter contains several other mis- 
statements, but we will let them pass. He asks us so 
earnestly to tell what we believe, we will try and com- 
ply with his request. We wish to be obliging so far 
as possible. We have no views we want to conceal. 
If we can say anything to enlighten him or any others ^ 
who are in the dark, we will say it most cheerfully. 

First. We think he asks too much, that we admit 
there is a Creator who made the Universe in six days 
from nothing. We can admit nothing of the kind. 
We do not believe there is one atom of matter in ex- 
istence that is either destructible or creatable. That 
it may change forms and conditions thousands of 
times we readily concede, but not by the combined 
skill of all the scientists in the world can an atom of 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 17 

it be forced out of existence, nor can a similar atom 
by any known power be brought into existence. If 
Elder Slielton and the*other sixty thousand clergymen 
in the United States, and the five hundred thousand 
priests in the different varieties of reli nons on earth, 
together with the one hundred millions of priects 
which are estimated to have lived and preyed upon 
man in the last five thousand years ; if all these w^ere 
gods and worked in concert, we do not believe they 
could make a Universe of nothing. By the by, this 
Universe is a big thing to make. The sun, the earth, 
and all the other planets, asteroids, and satellites, are 
but an infinitesimal portion of the Universe, whose 
millions of suns and systems reach so far into the 
abyss of space that it wonld require light, traveling at 
the rate of 200,000 miles per second, millions of years 
to travel from them to our solar system. As distant 
as these farther suns are, space and the Universe still 
extend trillions of times farther, and so on forever 
without limit, without end. What absurdity to talk 
about all this being made by a being and from 
nothing! 

The Elder says if we admit there is a Creator who 
has done all this, then we must admit he could create 
the water to drown this world. Ah! but there's the 
trouble. That t/is in the way. We can admit noth- 
ing of the kind. 

We can comprehend Ms Deity is a very watery one, 
and that his belief in his God's abilit}'- to make water is 
unlimited, but a body of water five miles in depth — for 
it is that distance to the top of the highest mountain — 
over the entire earth — 25,000 miles in circumference — 
is an immense quantity, and w^e cannot comprehend 
how one God could make it all in forty days and 



18 noah's flood. 

Dights. Our friend, however, gets along with the 
difficulty easily enough, and stands ready to believe 
Ood could make a thousand times as much more if he 
only felt like it. If the old legend had stated that, to 
produce this water, God had planted a cucumber vine 
and that from one of its fruits he had squeezed water 
enough to cover the entire earth to the tops of the 
highest mountains, and then to get rid of it he had 
from a bed-bug made a frog, which drank the water 
all up and then jumped ojff out of the way. Elder 
Shelton doubtless could have believed it perfectly 
easy. There is nothing like implicit faith. We, how- 
ever, are differently constituted. We cannot believe 
impossibilities. If we admit there is a God we hold 
he must be subject to laws, and that all things cannot 
be possible with him. For instance, he cannot make 
twice two to be five ; he cannot make a straight rod 
just three feet long without two ends ; he cannot 
make two mountains without a valley between ; he 
cannot make a three years old colt in five minutes ; 
he cannot act against himself ; he cannot commit ab- 
surdities ; he cannot make something of nothing. 

It is idle, perhaps, to conjecture what God is, or 
what he is not. It is a subject beyond our reach, but 
for ourselves we are satisfied he is not such a being as 
Elder Shelton and others who draw their ideas from 
the Bible, suppose him to be. And before we can ad- 
mit miracle No. 2 was performed because miracle No. 
1 was, we must be convinced that No. 1 was a reality. 
We view it as a very weak argument that the truth of 
all absurdities and monstrosities must be admitted be- 
cause "all things are possible with God." 

In nearly all the religions of the world miracles 
have been assumed and claimed to prove the religions 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 19 

true. The greater the ignorance of the people, the 
more the miracles have been urged. The Jewish 
Scriptures were far from being first in this business. 
Not one of all these miracles was ever true. Not one 
was ever possible. The hydropathic one that Elder 
Shelton believes in so strongly turned out to be par- 
ticularly futile — labor completely thrown away. Man- 
kind" afterwards continued right on as wicked as 
before, and the wholesale drowning of men, women, 
and children, animals, birds, insects, and all vegeta- 
tion was worse than useless. The Elder's claim that 
it made mankind know God is as silly as the rest of 
the story. The world has never known God, and even 
to this day it remains in total ignorance of him. 
God-makers and worshipers have told all manner of 
tales about Him, but unfortunately they knew not a 
particle more about Him than the masses. All have 
been in the dark together. 

We would suggest that if God wanted to send a 
flood upon the earth, a flood of knowledge w^ould 
have been better than a flood of water. It would 
have been immensely more profitable to the inhabi- 
tants of the earth, and inconceivably less cruel to 
children, babes, horses, cattle, sheep, kittens, doves, 
larks, linnets, nightingales, and millions of other kinds 
of beasts, birds, and insects which had done nothing 
to cause a reasonable god to send death and extermin- 
ation upon them, A fiood of knowledge even at this 
day would do a vast amount of good. We believe the 
people down in Alabama would be benefited by it. 
Elder Shelton himself would, perhaps, not be injured 
by such a flood. If they were in that State well suf- 
fuse^ with such a flood, they w^ould, doubtless, be 
willing honest Infidels should testify in courts of law. 



20 KOAH'S FLOOD. 

One of the greatest mistakes Elder Shelton and bis 
Christian friends make, is in imputing demoniacal 
characteristics and conduct to the God of the Uni- 
verse. They make him cruel, malicious, revengeful, 
and bloodthirsty enough for a first-class devil. 
The trouble is they have mistaken God altogether — 
they have adopted the Jewish deity, Jehovah, and try 
to pass him off for the God of the Universe. A great- 
er error could not be made. They are totally un- 
like, and it is the greatest injustice to the God of the 
Universe to displace him with the Jewish god Jeho- 
vah, the older Hindu god Brahma, the Egyptian god 
Osiris, the Grecian god Jupiter, the Scandinavian god 
Odin, or any of the thousands of other gods invented by 
mankind. What the world needs to do, is to discard 
all these ancient gods of superstition and ignorance, 
and revere the only God that exists, the God of the 
Universe and whose highest expression is in Humanity, 
exalted and enobled by knowledge, truth, and good 
lives. 

Second. We deem it unreasonable that Elder Shel- 
ton requires us to prove by living witnesses that up- 
heavals have ever taken place on this continent, when 
he ought to know that the man who was here when 
that little commotion took place has been dead several 
years. The Elder does not believe that the Andes, the 
Kocky Mountains, the Alleghanies, the Catskills, the 
White Mountains, and all the other mountains on the 
continent were once thrown up by internal convul- 
sions produced by the formation of various gasses, 
but that it did once occur there is the strongest proof 
in the world. The strata of limestone, sandstone, 
granite, conglomerate, etc., the natural position of 
which is cojnparatively level, are found where these 



noah's flood. 21 

upheavals have occurrcJ, in all conceivable angles 
and sometimes even perpendicular, and often carried 
hundreds of feet above the same strata in adjacent lo- 
calities, showing the force producing the rupture must 
have been tremendous. Our good Elder, however, 
finding nothing of this in the Bible, cannot believe a 
word of it. But as long as this very rational theory is 
sustained by such learned scholars and close students 
of nature as Lyell, Hitchcock, Humboldt, Miller, Den- 
ton, and other learned geologists, who have spent their 
lives in investigating the subject, we shall be compel- 
led to be guided by them, though even Elder Shelton 
should exclaim, "what fools they all are to disagree 
with me," and '*a learned fool is much more of a fool 
than an unlearned one like myself." 

It is indeed an ignorant person that will insist that 
there have been no topographical changes upon the 
earth. They have taken place on a large scale not 
only on this hemisphere, but on the Eastern also. 
Some have been sudden and explosive, as when 
mountain ranges have been thrown up, others have 
been gradual and almost imperceptible. Professor 
Draper, one of the ripest scholars of our time, in his 
*^ Intellectual Development of Europe,'Mn touching 
upon this subject gives a clear statement of the changes 
that have taken place upon the Eastern continent. 
He says: *' For countless ages Asia has experienced a 
slow upward movement, not only aflecting her own 
topography but likewise that of her European depen- 
dency. There was a time when the great sandy desert 
of Gobi was the bed of the sea which communicated 
through the Caspian with the Baltic, as may be proved 
not only by existing geographical facts, but also 
from geological considerations. It is only necessary 



23 noah's flood. 

for this purpose to inspect the imperfect maps that 
have been published of the Silurian or even the ffertia- 
ry period. The vertical displacement of Europe dur- 
ing and since the last period, has indisputably been 
more than 2,000 feet in many places. There is not a 
shore in Europe which does not give evidence of 
changes : the mouths of the Ehine, as they were in 
Roman times are obliterated ; the eastern coast of 
England has been cut away for miles. In the Medi- 
terranean the shore-line is altogether changed ; towns 
once on the coast are far away inland ; others have 
sunk beneath the sea. Islands, like Rhodes, have 
risen from the bottom. The Korth Adriatic, once a 
deep gulf, has now become shallow ; there are leaning 
towers and inclining temples that have sunk with the 
settling of the earth. On the opposite extremity of 
Europe the Scandinavian peninsula furnishes an in- 
stance of slow secular motion, the northern part rising 
gradually above the sea at the rate of about four feet 
in a century. This elevation is observed through a 
space of many hundred miles, increasing towards the 
north. The southern extremity on the contrary, ex- 
periences a slow depression. 

''These slow moyements are nothing more than what 
have been going on for numberless ages. Since the 
tertiary period two-thirds of Europe have been lifted 
above the sea. The Norway coast has been elevated 
600 feet, the Alps have been upheaved 2,000 to 3,000, 
the Apennines 1,000 to 2,000. The country between 
Mont Blanc and Vienna has been thus elevated since 
the adjacent seas were peopled with existing animals. '' 

The same causes which have produced these results 
upon the Eastern continent have produced similar re- 
sults on the Western. Where we now find high 



noah's flood. 2d 

grounds and even hills we liave indubitable proofs that 
they were once a part of the ocean. Even in the short 
time our history extends into the past, changes in the 
mouths and deltas of our rivers, and shiftiness in the 
sea-coasts have unmistakably occurred. The main up- 
heavals, causing the mountain ranges of the conti- 
nent to rise, may have occurred millions of years ago, 
but that they did once take place we shall continue to 
believe, Elder Shelton to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. We shall accord to the geologists and scientists 
we have mentioned far more credibility than-we pos- 
sibly can to the pious Elder, who is evidently guided 
more by blind faith in that which he knows nothing 
of, than by education and knowledge. 

Third. We think it rather unkind in the Elder to 
'* go back " in the way he does upon Brother Beecher, 
How would he like it, if he was sitting upon the" rag- 
ged edge of despair and remorse, to have his brothers 
of the cloth turn their backs upoi> him ? Many emi- 
nent clergymen have been just as bad as Henry Ward, 
but were not all so unlucky as to be caught just as he 
was. How do we know but Elder Shelton himself 
may not sometime have been just a little bit impru- 
dent and loved the sisters of the fold a little too well ? 
He ought to be more charitable toward an erring 
brother, and not cast stones unless he is sure he is 
without fault himself ; and even then it would perhaps 
be unkind. He seems to doubt the genuineness of 
Brother Henry's orthodoxy. True, the Plymouth 
pastor has said some funny things and uttered some 
singular sentiments, but certainly he is all right on 
Jesus and the Holy Ghost. He goes very strong upon 
those, and in the sportsman's language, they are the 
*' best cards in the pack." In fact, Henry Ward and 



24 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

the Holy Ghost have some points of resemblance, if 
all reports are true ; both have been attracted by- 
females, both are said to be great comforters, both op- 
erate in secret, and both have engaged in the ** over- 
shadowing business." We hope the Elder will excuse 
us for the opinion that, in point of knowledge and 
talent, Henry Ward Beecher knows more in a minute 
than J. C. Shelton does in a week. He certainly ought 
to stick to him like a brother. The Plymouth pastor 
needs the sympathizing aid of every friend, lay and 
clerical ; let not Elder Shelton desert him. 

Fourth. Our friend asks us to point out what books 
we believe better than the Bible. That is rather of a 
heavy contract, and we will not undertake it. There 
are so many, our columns would not be sufficient to 
contain the titles. We will, however, indicate a few. 
AVe think the Spelling-book, the Reader, the Gram- 
mar and Arithmetic are better than many parts of 
th^Bible. Works on Astronomy, Chemistry, Geolo- 
gy, Physiology, Botany, History and all the Sciences 
are better. Among the special authors we would pre- 
fer to the Bible, are Shakespeare, Pope, Byron, Moore, 
Burns, Combe, Macauley, Buckle, Leckey, Froude, 
Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Mill, Tyndall, Fiske, Dra- 
per, Emerson and many, many others. These teach 
a man something he ought to know, and the knowl- 
edge improves him and leads him on to higher and 
grander elevations of usefulness. Whereas with the 
Bible there is no advance in knowledge or progress. 
It presupposes man was made faultless and upright 
at first, but that in a few hours he fell into great dis- 
grace and degradation, and with all the help that gods 
and angels have been able to extend to him, he has 
not yet near recovered the position from which he fell, 



koah's flood. 25 

Science and knowledge are what the world needs to 
help us on in our upward journey, and they are ever 
calling us up higher and higher. But the Bible re-, 
mains on the low plane whence it emanated, main- 
taining its same crudities and imperfections, its same 
silly and obscene stories, illy calculated as they are to 
enlarge the mental calibre of the world, or to impart 
knowledge, usefulness or value. The Bible is* a 
reflex of the ignorance and superstition of past ages 
with no provision for progress or advance in knowl- 
edge, and is far behind the more reliable, needful, 
practical and truthful information which science is 
to-day giving the world. 

Fifth. We think, inasmuch as they are Christians 
who believe in Christ, and that there could have been 
no Christians before Christ, it is a singular process by 
which the Elder makes Christians of Noah and his 
wife, his three sons and their wives. Let us enquire 
if Noah was a Christian, was it a proof of it when lie 
got drunk and lay naked in his tent in a drunken i 
sleep, and when afterward he cursed his son Ham for ^ 
laughing at him when in that condition, thus dooming 
the innocent descendants of Ham to abject servitude 
and degradation for thousands of years ? 

Sixth. We are decidedly of the opinion that Elder 
Shelton, like thousands of other' Christians, is greatly 
behind the spirit of the age in still hugging to his 
/bosom the antiquated and absurd fables and vagaries 
of past barbarous ages under the vain delusion that, 
in those old legends and unreliable stories, he finds 
true wisdom and knowledge. It is getting along too 
far in the Nineteenth Century to give preference to 
the idle, exaggerated tales of three thousand years 
ago, written, as they were, by persons who scarcely 



26 noah's flood. 

had the first glimpses of scientific truth, in place of 
the advanced thought and scientific research of far 
abler min^s of the present day. 

Priests, as a rule, are slow to accept the teachings 
of science. For centuries they have zealously fought 
it with acrimony and hate, knowing well it is calcu- 
lated to lessen their rule over the minds of men. But 
in spite of their opposition, in spite of the fetters 
they have sought to place upon the growing limbs of 
young science, she has already far outgrown their 
reach, and bids fair soon to liberate the world from 
this rule of bondage which for so many centuries priest- 
craft has fastened upon it. We hail the auspicious 
promise of the near future of the world, and would 
gladly see all Priests and Elders throw away the 
effete errors and mythological absurdities of olden 
times, and embrace the better teachings of truth and 
re'ason which are illuminating the mental and moral 
horizon. 

We are pleased in some directions to see indications 
of progress and intelligence on the part of the clergy. 
The Kev. T. W. Fowle, M.A., Vicar of St. Luke's, 
Natford Place, London, in a work of over four hun- 
dred pages, recently published under the title of Tlie 
Reconciliation of Religion and Science^ and which was 
dedicated to the Dean of Stanley, a dignitary of the 
Church of England, next perhaps in authority to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, gives utterance to most 
advanced and liberal sentiments when we consider the 
contracted and sectarian views the clergy usually take 
upon this subject. The distinguished author, assum- 
ing that science and religion stand face to face in 
deadly conflict, proposes the following as preliminary 
to peace : **The mode of reconciliation sug2:ested in 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 27 

tliis book consists in the absolute and unconditional 
surrender of the province of religion to the methods 
of scientific investigation." He then diaws a striking 
illustration from history. The advent of Modern 
Science he compaies to the invasion of England by 
the conquering Normans, who, after their decisive 
victory at the battle of Hastings, were themselves ab- 
sorbed into the common life of the subjugated race. 
He then continues in the following eloquent passage : 

"The application of our parable is easy. The 
Ifeur is coming when upon this field of intellectual 
ccntroversy, the army of science will storm the last 
stronghold of religion regarded from the intellectual 
side. Reason will conquer herself the kingdom, 
which, even in the act of admitting the inevitable re- 
sult it seems so hard to believe, can really belong to 
her. But * Magna sunt facta et prevalebunt.' The 
methods, the dogmas, the assumptions, the opinions, 
the creeds of Christendom will pass under the 3^oke 
of scientific enquiry, and will continue to exist only 
so far as science permits and approves. And with the 
death of the old theology will begin the new religion, 
just as when the Norman soldiers sat down on Eng- 
lish soil to eat their meal on the night of victory, 
began, then and there, that process which was to make 
them more English than the English themselves." 
The book is filled with similar sensible utterances. 

The sentiments of this clergyman strike us as far 
in advance of Elder Shelton's, and we would, in the 
kindest manner, urge the latter to open his eyes and 
look about himself ; to brush away the mists that ob- 
struct his vision, and endeavor to obtain a clearer view 
of the sun of science and truth. In another half cen- 
tury' but few clergymen will be found who will insist 



28 noah's flood. 

that the stories in Genesis are to be taken literally, 
but that they are simply a legend or fable, and of no 
practical value save to exhibit the literary taste and 
ability of olden times. 

Speakiug of the conflict between science and super- 
stition, we like the way in which Dr. Draper thus 
states it : **As to the issue of the coming conflict, can 
any one doubt ? Whatever is resting on fiction and 
fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that organize 
impostures and spread delusions must show what right 
they have to exist. Faith must render an account of 
herself to reason. Mysteries must give place to facts. 
Heligion must relinquish that imperious, that domi- 
neering position which she has so long maintained 
against science. There must be absolute freedom for 
thought. The ecclesiastic must learn to keep himself 
within the domain he has chosen, and cease to tyran- 
nize over the philosopher, who, conscious of his own 
strength and the purity of his motives, will bear such 
interference no longer." 

We would willingly give Elder Shelton more of our 
views, but our remarks have already far transcended 
the limits we prescribed. We know not whether he 
will consider our arguments *' solid," but if he will 
come again, we will be only too happy to enlighten 
him to the extent of our ability. 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 29 

l¥rom The Truth Seeker of June 1st. 1875.] 



Another Blast from Elder Shelton. 

This doughty defender of the old flood story has 
favored us with another of his luminous epistles. We 
hesitated some before cumbering our columns with 
such senseless twaddle, fearing our readers will not 
thank us for intellectual pabulum of so low a grade ; 
but the Elder, doubtless, likes to be heard, and we 
will humor him this once more. 

If regrets were availing, we would indulge in sor- 
row that this man of great faith should be so deficient 
in civility and common courtesy^ and should employ ex- 
pressions gentlemen never use. We do not care very 
much about his calling us "a dirty fellow;" his 
calling us so does not make us so; nor we cannot see 
with what propriety he gives us such an appellation. 
AVe bathe prett}" often, and do not grovel in filth or dirt. 
Does the good Elder think we are *' dirty " because we 
cannot come to the same absurd conclusions he does? 
We imagine he and his foul names are hardly worth 
minding. We remember, when a boy, of passing 
through a farm-yard» when an old gander pursued 
us, and hissed at us fearfully. We, of course, felt insult- 
ed, and wished to be revenged. We soon, however, 
regained our equanimity and remarked to ourselves, 
** don't mind him, he is only a goose." The same re- 
mark is appropriate in this case. Since our boyhood 
we have met more than one insolent goose, but we 
try not to be annoyed at their hissing. 

Now listen to what our amiable and intellectual 
Elder has to say. We render him verbatim et literatim 
ei spellatim : 



80 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

Bbookstelle. Blount Co.. Ala., May 7th, 1875. 

Mb. D. M. Bennett, Sir:—1 received one of your so, called 
Truth seekers, or more properly, one of your. Falsehood 
Depositorys, in which you have in vain, tried to answer 
the flood Question. 

First you complain of my Dad grammer, I will say to 
you that it is good enough for Infidels to read, and no 
Christian will complain against it. You have also accused 
us of ' lieing,' but the beauty of it is you have not shown 
that it is so. The fact of the thing is, Mr. Editor you are 
a kind of a dirty fellow anny how, and you are not the 
first dirty fellow I ever got hold of. I come in contact 
with one of your sort a few years back, and in our debate 
which lasted two days, he got so mad he swore by the 
seven Stars and every thing else he could think of. He 
showed his Ignorance and want of truth and veracity to 
the whole audience. But Sir, he did not go so far in folly, 
and madness, as you have gone, in trying to answer my 
truths which is founded on the Bible, Science, and Philos- 
ophy. I thought at the start; you would get mad, but 
did not think that you would betray your Ignorance so 
far as to Blaspheme against the Holy Gohst, in comparing 
poor old Beecher to the Holy Gohst, and accusing the God 
of Heaven of Whoredoms. Sir, by this you have brought 
upon yourself the Contempt of all Christians who read it, 
and even the Just Censure of all moderate Infidels that 
read your Paper. This shows at once the Viper blood, 
that is in you, and shows too, the deep seated malice, and 
hatred, you have against the Christian, and that you are 
not actuated by the love of Truth as you hypocritically 
contend. And my private opinion, is, Mr. Editor that you 
have been a Preacher in your young days among some of 
the Orthodox Christian denominations, and probably 
have been turned out for some unchristian act, and then 
turned around with a malicious heart, and try to wage a 
war of extermination against the poor Christians. If it 
is not so in your case, it has been so in many cases. 

Second, we called on the Editor in our last Article to 
prove by indubitable witness, or evidences, that there has 
been upheavels in the Earth on the continent of America, 
since the flood. The Editors pitiful excuse is, that the 
man is dead that knew about it. ' yes' and the next time 



noah's flood. 31 

you hear a puffing Infidel talking about those upheavels 
in the Earth, the Witnesses will be dead again. The fact 
is if the Editor would receive the Bible declaration, about 
the great deep being broken up he would understand how 
it is that the different Stratas of Sandstone and Lime, are 
mixed up together in a conglomerated mass in certain 
Localities, and if he could believed that it rained 40 days 
and nights as the Bible states he could have told how that 
ridge which H. Scott, lives on in Blount Co, was formed 
some 10 feet above a Strata of Soil, Timber &c he could see 
that the 40 days rain would make a flood sufficientto wash 
the dirt and gravel from a high ridge, close by and from 
this small ridge, above this soil and timber, but he has 
entirely failed to give us any thing, but his bare as- 
sertions and when called on to prove them stated that the 
witnesses are dead. The fact is the Editor is driven to 
his last shifts, and to the wall, so much so that he became 
extremely absent minded in trying to answer our last 
Article, and got entirely out of soap and Tallow too, and 
went to planting Cucumber Seeds, and turning bed bugs 
into frogs. I laughed ; when I saw the poor old grey 
headed Editor engaged in turning bedbugs into frogs, 
but from what I see of the Truth Seeker he had as 
well go on with the Bedbug business, and if the Editor 
lacks a supply of the little Pesky Creatures, we will send 
him some from Alabama by Express clear of freight 
charges. The People of Alabama would not care if he 
would turn all their bedbugs into frogs. Thirdly, after 
the frog matter, he tries to gass us Considerably, he is 
silly enough to try to make us believe that the Rocky and 
other Large Mountains, have been upheaved or formed 
from the force of Grass beneath. Now a man that would 
resort to such pitiful Subterfuges, in order to get rid of 
Bible truths, the Devil ought to get him, and then he 
would get Gass enough, but it would be Sulphuric Gass. 
Now Sir, as little as you think of it I have read Volumes 
of illustrious scientific works from noble minded and 
generous hearted Philosophers and Scientists, but none 
of them will agree with you in your Gass Theory. There 
is none but a few poisoned hearted Infidel writers that 
Claim Such a Theory. I wish Sir you would give me one 
- hundred Dollars for every acknowledged Scientific man 



32 ^ noah's flood. 

that will say that the Bible and Science is in Harmony 
with each other, and go hand in hand. I would be willing 
to give you a hundred Dollars for every one to The Con- 
trary. The Bible itself is full of Science ; for instance, 
David in one of his Psalms calls the world the round 
world and bids it to rejoice. Job says he maketh the 
weight for the wind Job was Scientific, and understood 
that the air had weight, and again he says, He Streteheth 
out the North over the Empty place, and hangeth the 
Earth upon nothing. 

Solomon Says, all the Bivers run into the Sea; yet the 
Sea is not full ; unto the place from whence the Elvers 
come, thither they return again. Then Sir there is a 
grander and more-Sublime Science taught in the Bible, 
and that is the Science of mans Salvation. You told us 
a great tale about a traveller from Japan and China, how 
honest they were and how fine they were getting along in 
Infidelity ; you will have to prove to me, that man was a 
truthful man, before I will have it. But in order to prove 
to you that he Lied, I will take you to some Large Sea- 
port Town, and I will Show you a Jappan or Chinaman 
Water Craft, or trading vessel, I will bring it along side 
of an American or European Ship of trade, and draw the 
contrast and say here is Infidel or heathen, and here is 
Christian, here is Bible, here is Science, and the blessiDgs 
of civil and religious Institutions, it would compare 
about as favorable as a small Bird Trap, set up by the 
side of a fine mansion. Then go with one to the interior 
of Afri-ca where they eat Snails and Bugs and also among 
the tribes of Indians and then turn to the Bible and 
Christian lands, and see the difference. Sir all the eleva- 
tion and refinement you have about you, you OAve it all to 
the Bible. Sir we do not displace the God of the Uni- 
verse as you say about as, for a Jewish God, but we wor- 
ship the great Jehovah or Creator of the Universe, who 
rules and governs all things, he is the first great Cause of 
all things, we prove this from Revelation, but you have no 
Revelation to back your blind Ideas, and in your blind- 
ness supose an impossible thing, and that is that the Uni- 
verse was always in existence. Sir I thought I had an 
opponent when I commenced correspondence with you, 
but unless you give me something better than Gass, Cu- 



noah's flood. 33 

cumbers, Bedbugs, and Frogs, you had better turn the 
matter over to some of your brother Infidels. I have 
written this Article as short and condensed as the subject 
will allow. You Can answer it if you see proper, if you 
do, dont waste so much Ink and Paper in trying to answer 
it, but I suppose the Ink and Paper is your own property 
and the Columns of your paper had as well be filled with 
that as any thing Else. Eld. J. 0. Shelton. 

Remarks. We have heard of people who knew so 
little that they did not know when they were whipped, 
and we think Elder Shelton is one of them. After we 
pointed out explicitl}'- a baker's dozen of his falsehoods, 
uttered in his last article, and proved them to be pos- 
itively false, he now exnltingiy says, *'the beauty of 
it is you have not shown it is so." He reminds us of 
the fellow who stole a sheep, and after he and his fam- 
ily had eaten the flesh, the pelt, or skin, was found at 
his house and identified. When arrested for sheep 
stealing he chuckled and said: "Aha! you found the 
pelt, but the beauty of it is you didn't find the mut- 
ton!" 

The Elder informs us he met a man in debate a few 
years since. He fails to tell us what subject they de- 
bated but we are left to infer the other fellow caroe off 
second best, for the Elder made him swear by the 
seven stars and every thing he could think of. The 
Elder ought to have told us what the fellow got mad at. 
Possibly it was at the Elder's suavity and good-breed- 
ing. We fear the unfortunate man did not have our 
early experience with the goose. If this man was the 
equal of Elder Shelton what a pair of intellectual giants 
they must have been! We would willingly perform 
a '' Sabbath day's journey " to see such brave knights 
measure their steel. Just think of it! For two whole 
days these mental gladiators astonished and electrified 



81 NOAIl'S FLOOD. 

tlieir audience. Great as this unknown man must 
have been, to go through what he did, it is perhaps 
not strange that his mind gave way at last, and he 
swore by the seven stars. Possibly he thought the 
Elder was seven giants in one. We are pleased that 
while this opponent must have been great, the Elder 
thinks he did not equal us in some points. 

We are more pleased with this compliment than 
with the following one, that he thinks we have at some 
time been a preacher in an orthodox church. We really 
can't take that as much of a compliment: and notice 
how he puts it. After calling us a '* dirty fellow,'' after 
accusing us of blasphemy, hypocrisy, and falsehood, 
he comes to the conclusion that we were once a 
preacher. It seems, then, the Elder thinks these 
qualities go together. If it is so we deem him more 
correct in this than in most of his other positions. 

We wish to disabuse the Elder's mind, as well as to 
vindicate our character. We may have had our 
faults; we may have erred on the right hand and on 
the left ; we are poor, and have some poor relations, 
but thanks to our stars, or some other good influence, 
we have never yet got so low as to be a preacher. 
We have never taken money from simple-minded and 
mistaken people under the pretense of dispensing to 
them the bread of life, of interceding for them at the 
throne of Deity and pretending to know more about 
God and the Devil and the future world than they did. 
No, no, we have never been a preacher! We have 
been a son of toil. The little money we have been 
able to get possessed of has been honestly procured. 
We have been conscientiously opposed to taking 
something for nothing, and have meant to tell the 
truth; hence we could not have been an orthodox 



noah's flood. 35 

preacher, aud would not be one, were we to live a 
dozen lives. Neither have we ever been expelled 
from any church, society or association. The Elder 
will have to try again. 

Equally at fault is the Elder when he sees us a 
"poor, grey-headed old man." We are not poor in 
flesh, having as much on our bones as we find con- 
venient or useful. We do not know that we have a 
grey hair in our head, but if it was all grey, it 
would be no disgrace Neither are we quite as old as 
Mathuselah was said to be. While we are fully as old 
as we ever were, we have seen the time when we 
were as young as anybody. We mention these small 
points to show the Elder how easy it is for him to be 
mistaken. In fact, we think him mistaken in nearly 
every instance. 

The Elder seems rather pleased with our mention 
of the bed-bug and frog, and just for his pleasure we 
are perfectly willing they should be incorporated into 
the flood stoiy, so he can have the satisfaction of re- 
ferrmg to them often, thinking about them, and be- 
lieving in them. He suggests that we change all the 
bed-bugs into frogs. We beg to be excused. It is 
not in our line. We cheerfully refer him to his God 
and to Moses. They are said at one time to have been 
very extensively engaged in the frog making business; 
literally filling a large country with them, including 
the fields, houses, chambers, beds, ovens and knead- 
ing troughs. As the Elder is a man of prayer, and as 
he wishes the bed-bugs to be changed to frogs, if he 
will just ask his God to do the little job for him, pos- 
sibly he may be gratified. Perhaps he would not 
like quite as many frogs as were produced on the 
occasion referred to, for it will be recollected old 



36 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

Pharaoh became very much annoyed "with them and 
importuned Moses to kill them off, and that caused a 
terrible stench in the whole land. We think upon 
the whole, it will be better for the Elder to try and 
make out with what frogs he has down in Alabama, 
and if he is overrun with bed-bugs, to wash his bed- 
steads with soap-suds, and apply a solution of corro- 
sive sublimate^ mixed with spirits turpentine or kero- 
sene. We assure him it is effectual, if thoroughly ap- 
plied. 

The Elder asserts we are ** driven to our last shift." 
He is greatly mistaken ; he is not half so powerful as 
he imagines he is. In the first place, we do not wear 
shifts^ and have not for several years. If he means 
sJiiris^ he is still wrong, for we are happy in assuring 
him we have half a dozen clean ones ahead. It has 
not always been so with us, but just now happens 
to be. He says, also, we are * ' entirely out of soap and 
tallow*" We don't know how he should be so well 
informed about our soap and tallow, unless he has 
been prying around our premises. So far as soap is 
concerned, he is mistaken ; we have several pieces on 
hand, and never allow ourselves to get entirely out. 
Tallow we have very little use for, and keep no supply 
by us. By the elegant metaphors the Elder uses, 
we are led to infer that, in addition to preaching, he 
is engaged in the soap manufacture. If this is so, Ave 
think he ought to succeed in making large quantities 
if he can only procure the tallow, as he has lie enough 
to fill all emergencies. 

The pious Elder seems a little horrified at our allu- 
sion to the third part of his deity, or the third member 
of the firm — the trinity — (and which it is, the world 
will never know), and says we have thereby brought 



noah's flood. 37 

upon ourselves the contempt of all Christians. That 
may be so, and it may not. It' it is, it is wholly im- 
material, for their contempt is so much beneath ours 
that no harm at all is done. We did not say anything 
about the God of Heaven committing whoredoms. We 
briefly alluded to a circumstance imperfectly describ- 
ed by Matthew and Luke, the only authorities we 
have upon the extraordinary subject. The former 
merely says, Mary *'was found with child of the 
Holy Ghost," without telling us who found it, what 
means were taken to determine the Holy Ghost to be 
the father, or without describing the process by which 
the business was accomplished. Joseph is said to 
have dreamed it, and as the whole story rests upon 
what somebody dreamed, it is hardly worth while for 
the world to attach much importance to it, or for 
the Elder to be very much shocked if we briefly al- 
lude to it. 

Luke does not inform us how the remarkable opera- 
tion was performed, nor does he even say it was per- 
formed at all, but says that an angel appeared to Mary 
and told her the Holy Ghost should come upon her and 
the power of the Highest should ovtrshadow her, but 
lie fails to tell us whether this wonderful event ever 
did occur, so all that the Christian world has to build 
their stupendous edifice upon, of their human deity 
being begotten by God or the Holy Ghost rests upon 
what a man said ,Toseph dreamed, and a vision anoth- 
er man said a Jewish maiden had. Weak authority 
indeed! When an unmarried girl gives birth to a 
child in these days, it cannot be explained upon any 
such theory. Nobody would think a dream or a vi% 
ion a sufl&cient basis for such an event. And even if 
the girl should claim she had been overshadowed bv 



38 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

God, or that the Holy Ghost had '' come upon her," 
nobody would believe her. They would sooner think 
some priest, with real body and organs like Parson 
Beeeher or Elder Shelton had called upon her to ad- 
minister comfort and consolation. The passage 
should probably have been translated holy priest in- 
stead of Holy Ghost. 

We have no reason to suppose Mary ever claimed 
anything so absurd as the Holy Ghost cohabiting 
with her, but that a century or two later, when the 
story and the system were fixed up, some unknown 
person wrote the tale about Mary's vision, and it 
has been attributed to Luke, and his book at the 
Nicene Council came near being rejected as uncanoni- 
cal, being retained by a single vote. If the vote of 
that one priest had been cast the other way, or he 
had been absent, the book called Luke would not 
have formed a part of the Bible; the world would 
have known very little about the overshadowing hns'i- 
ness, and we would not necessarily have shocked El- 
der Shelton or the Christian world by referring to it. 

There is an indefiniteness about this overshadowing 
operation which is rather unsatisfactory to a person of 
an enquiring turn of mind, who wants to know what 
he believes and why he believes it. Physiologists and 
-most well-informed persons understand that human 
beings, and animals too, are begotten through the 
agency of sexual organs, and they cannot conceive 
how the result can be produced in any other way. Is 
there any sense in supposing Jesus was begotten by a 
process entirely different from all other persons who 
have come into the world ? If a natural father was 
ueedless in his case, why not a mother also ? If the 
sexual organs were not employed, why would it not 



NOAH^S FLOOD. 30 

have answered just as well for the Holy Ghost to 
have overshadowed a wash-tub or a Dieal-bag ? There 
is, indeed, a mystery about this overshadowiijg mat- 
ter, that believers and all others, inasmuch as their 
eternal happiness depends upon their believing it, are 
entitled to have better explained. 

The Elder certainly has no occasion to be horrified 
at our brief allusion to it. The idea is not originally 
Christian. It was borrowed entirely from the Pagans. 
The belief that God had sexual intercourse with wo- 
men prevailed in the world many centuries before 
Christianity was invented. The idea was common in 
many nations, and Mary was by no means the first 
virgin said to be made pregnant by Deity. Ghriatna 
was said to be begotten by God, and born of tLe vir- 
gin Devanaguy a thousand years earlier than the story 
was revamped in reference to Mary and Jesus. Near- 
ly in the same age of the world, Buddha was believed 
to have been divinely begotten of the virgin Maha- 
mia. Alankee, the Gengkiskan's grandmother, was 
held to have been impregnated when a virgin by 
divine influence, by a ray from heaven. The Greek 
mythology is also full of the stories of Gods and fe- 
males cohabiting together, thus producing demi-gods. 
Mercury was the son of Jupiter and Maia, (almost 
Mary); Apollo, the son of Jupiter and Latona ; Her- 
cules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena ; Bacchus, the 
son of Jupiter and Semele ; Proserpine, the offspring 
of Jupiter and Ceres, and she was afterwards carried 
off by Pluto, and gave birth to Yulcan. Juno w^as the 
daughter of Saturn and Ops and became the wife "of 
Jupiter; Pallas was the daughter of Jupiter and Metib, 
though the monstrous fable has it that as soon as he 
discovered Metis was pregnant, he ate her up, and in 



40 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

consequence he conceived, and Pallas came forth 
ready armed from his brain. That she and all the rest 
of these ofFsprinsf of gods came from somebody's 
brain, is very apparent. All these fables were be- 
lieved in many centuries before Jesus or his Holy 
Ghost-father was thought of. It is needless to multi- 
ply these instances in heathen mythology of the 
gods cohabiting with females and producing off- 
spring. The Titans, the Cyclops, the Heroes and the 
Giants were all descendants of the gods and women. 
'It would be too tedious to mention them all, but the 
fact is fully assured and positive, that Christians have 
no patent for the sublime idea of a god holding sex- 
•jjal intercourse with a woman. They borrowed it, 
as we have seen, from the Pagans, as they did all others 
of their dogmas and creeds; and now such men as 
Elder Shelton are shocked if we allude to it, and they 
imagine we are sacrilegious and blasphemous to speak of 
such absurdities. They are not offended if we doubt 
the story of Christna, and Buddha, and Apollo, and 
Mercury, and Bacchus,' and ^sculapius, and Hercules 
and all those other cases which are much older, more 
original and more reasonable than their stor}'-, but 
are immensely shocked if we doubt their inspired 
tale about Mary and the Holy Ghost. We cannot, 
however, see much difference in the sanctity of these 
different deities and fables, and we speak of one with 
the same freedom we do of the other, and we have no 
fear of being smitten or punished in consequence. If 
Elder Shelton thinks he can influence any of these 
gods to visit us in their dire wrath for our temerity, 
let him go ahead and do his worst. If this is "viper 
blood," let it be so. It is only the truth. Vipers and 
snakes, however, have much to do with his reliffious 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 41 

belief and nothing with ours; so he probably has quite 
as much of the *' viper blood" as we have. 

The same veneration which the Christian feels to- 
wards his system, the Mahometan feels towards his, 
the Persian towards his, the Buddhist towards his, the 
Jew towards his and the Brahmin towards his. Even 
the deluded wretch who bows down to a crocodile, 
feels an amount of awe and veneration, and, like 
Elder Shelton, thinks a doubter or scoffer of his 
god ought to be smitten with vengeance most terrible. 
These devotees are all equally in the wron^ — all de- 
luded and mistaken, all equally superstitious; and we 
trust the light of science and truth will ere long shine 
in upon them and convince them of their darkness and 
error. 

Apropos of the ^oly Ghost, what does Elder 
Shelton know of him ? We apprehend nothing. 
'He does not even know how to spell his name cor- 
rectly. He persists in spelling it G-o-h-s-t instead of 
G-h-o-s-t. If there is such a person as a Holy Ghost, 
and Elder Shelton should ever be fortunate enough 
to come into his presence, we fancy the Ghost will 
serve a writ of ejectment upon him for bad orthogra- 
phy, and tell him to go back and attend spelling 
matches until he can learn to spell ghost correctly. 

The Elder, by the by, has a *' bad spell " upon him 
with several words. He has made improvements up- 
on Webster — at all events Webster and he disa- 
gree. We notice he uses one more**s"in spelling 
gas than Webster uses, but that is nothing. He prob- 
ably has the right to two or three esses in gas if he 
wishes to use them, and to put a capital at one or both 
ends if he pleases. He also has a right to suppose 
there is such a gas as sulphuric gas, and he may have 



42 NOAHS F100D. 

found an account of it in some of the elaborate scien 
ti fie volumes he boasts of having read; but ordinary 
scientists know nothing of such a gas. There is a sul- 
phuric acid and a sulphurous acid, but they are differ- 
ent compounds. The first contains three equivalents 
of oxygen to one of sulphur, while the latter has but 
two of oxygen to one of sulphur. In the form of gas 
oxygen and sulphur do not combine in the propor- 
tions of three to one, but of two equivalents of oxy- 
gen to one of sulphur, and hence is sulphur (?W5 gas, and 
not sulphur^c gas. In the nomenclature of chemistry 
the prefixes and suffixes have much to do in designat- 
ing the exact constituency of the numerous com- 
pounds in existence. Of this Elder Shelton seems to- 
tally ignorant. Why should he not be? — there is noth- 
ing of it in the Bible. Let him remember the gas 
which he superstitiously supposes prevails in hell, and 
which he devoutly hopes we may some day have to 
breathe, is spelt with one *' s " — not two nor three — 
and that a small **g" is usually thought to be big 
enough when writing it. We really hope before Elder 
Shelton is called upon to take that gas for a regular diet 
he will learn how to spell it and how to write it. So 
much for the Elder's " Gass."" 

We are not a little amused to hear the Elder quot- 
ing the Bible-scientists. He tries to make us think 
David knew the world was round because in Psalms 
Ixxxviii in speaking of the terrors of God, it says: 
*' They came round me daily like water, they encom- 
passed me about together." This passage has refer- 
ence to troubles and afflictions, and not the slightest 
allusion to the shape and form of the earth; and there 
is not the least certainty that David ever wrote 
a word of it. There is no authority lor asserting he 



NOAg's FLOOD. 4?* 

did. When King James' translators rendered this 
compilation of wild strains and extravagant invectives 
and cursings into English they labeled them the 
'' Psalms of David," but, as we said, nobody knows 
that he wrote a word of them. Possibly he wrote 
some of them, where he wants his enemies cursed; but 
no Bible scholar thinks he wrote them all. In our 
opinion this '* man after God's own heart " knew bet- 
ter how to be a brigand, and how to slaughter, rob and 
despoil Hcighboring nations, and how to obtain a poor 
man's wife with whom he had become enamored and 
wished for his own sensual gratification, by having 
her husband placed in the front of battle where he 
would be almost sure to be killed — we say he knew 
better how to do this, than to write psalms, or that the 
earth was a round ball. The Elder may be able to 
find much science in the Bible that we cannot. We 
can find nowhere in Psalms, or any part of the Bible, 
any mention of the earth or the world being round. 
The ends of the earth are often mentioned, the foun- 
dation^ the lower parts, and the uttermost parts are fre- 
quently spoken of, but nothing is said about its ro- 
tundity. The reason is, the writers knew nothing 
about its being round, and the sources whence they 
drew their inspiration — if they had any — were equally 
ignorant. Abraham did not know the earth was round, 
Moses did not know it, David did not know it, Solo- 
mon did not know it, and Jesus did not know it. 
None of the apostles, none of the Christian Fathers, 
none of the martyrs, none of the saints, none of 
the early popes bishops, nor priests knew it. A ten 
years old child of this day knows more of this great 
truth than all those distinguished men combined. 
Copernicus, in the sixteenth century, was the great 



44 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

mind who first made the grand discovery that the 
earth is round and revolves upon its own axis, and 
for giving utterance to this scientific truth the Chris- 
tian Church persecuted him and sought this life. He 
was driven from friends and home, and was compel. 
led to seek safet}'- in a foreign country. Even Martin 
Luther, the great Eeformer, called Copernicus /'an 
old fool '* for asserting that the earth is round. The 
fact of the rotundity of the earth contradicted all the 
old Bible philosophy, and the Church did its best 
to suppress it. 

After the death of Copernicus, his disciple, Galileo, 
again gave utterance to the truth that the earth is 
round, that it revolves every day upon its own axis, and 
makes a revolution once a year round the sun. The 
Church again refused to suffer such dangerous doc- 
trines to be taught, and the noble martyr to science 
was .seized by the Church officials — was thrown 
into that infernal Christian torture-house called the 
**Holy Inquisition,'* and here the brave man was sub- 
jected to cruel torture for enunciating one of the most 
palpable truths of the Universe ; and to save his 
life, being feeble and old, he was compelled to deny his 
firm and honest convictions, and to admit the earth 
stood still. He lived but a short time after his release, 
but he died exulting in the truth that ** the earth still 
moves." 

Solomon is another of Elder Shelton's Bible-scien- 
tists, and credits him with discovering that the rivers 
all run into the sea. Did it take ** the wisest man " 
that ever lived to find out that fact ? And is that the 
reason why he was called the wisest man ? It might 
be supposed Solomon's seven hundred wives and three 
hundred concubines would have kept him so busy 



45 

that he could hardly find time to study geography or 
prosecute science. We conjecture the woman science 
was the science he understood the best of any. 

Job is another of the Elder's Bible-scientists, and he 
quotes him as speaking of the ** weight of the wind," 
" stretching out the North," and ** hanging the earth." 
These ideas are perhaps sublime enough, but are not 
correctly expressed as modern scientists state them. 
It is thought Job investigated the subject of boils pret- 
ty thoroughly, for between God and Satan, he had a 
very hard time of it. Had he written a scientific 
treatise on ''boils "we think he would have bee^ 
f accepted as good authority. The book of Job con- 
tains much beautiful language and many grand ideas. 
We have often thought it the most sensible book in 
the Bible. It makes nowhere any allusion to any 
character or event mentioned in other parts of the Bi- 
ble. There is no date given by which its chronology 
can be even guessed at, though it is doubtless older 
than any part of the Jewish scriptures. The person 
who wrote it evidently knew something of astronomy, 
and talked freely about the stars. Arc turns, the Ple- 
iades, and Orion, whereas these names are used nowhere 
else ill the Bible, nor did its writers have any knowl- 
edge of astronomy. The book of Job is probably a 
I drama or poem from the Chaldean language, and was 
borrowed or adopted by the Jews. The best scholars, 
I Hebrew and others, agree that it is not Hebrew in 
'character, that it was not written by a Jew, hence 
, its divine origin and inspiration fall to the ground, 
for even Elder Shelton will hardly claim that anybody 
In olden times could have been inspired except a 
3ew. 
After the Elder enumerates the delectable sciences 



46 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

of the great book, he says, ** there is a grander and 
more sublime science taught in the Bible, and that is 
the science of man's salvation. " This shows the Elder 
does not know what science is. Is what he refers to, 
science ? Let us see how much science it contains. 
The theory is about in this wise : God made the world 
according to a plan he had cogitated upon for thou- 
sands of years ; he also made a nice garden, and in it 
planted a tree which bore inviting fruit: he made 
man of the dust and placed him in the garden, but 
finding he was lonely, he put him to sleep ^nd took 
out one of his ribs, out of which he fashioned a young, 
plump, blooming, fascinating female. The man and 
woman probably would have got along very well had 
it not been for the fruit just mentioned and a big snake 
that God had also made, and which afterwards be- 
came the big, roaring Devil, the adversary of God, 
who has since successfully opposed God in every in- 
stance and xiefeated him in every encounter. God 
told the man he must not eat that fruit, although he 
had placed it there before him ; but while the man 
was away in some other part of the garden the snake 
came along and got into conversation with the 
woman and persuaded her to taste of the fruit. She 
found it pleasant and induced her ** old man " to try 
some when he came back. This little affair made 
God very angry and he turned them out of the garden 
he had prepared for them, cursing them severely, and 
placed a watchman at the gate to keep thein out. 

The man and woman however went into the busi- 
ness of raising children, and in a short time the earth 
became well populated. It seems the people did not 
do so well as they ought, and God became very sorry 
that he had ever made the world, or such a race of 



kc>ah's flood. 47 

troublesome beings. He concluded the best thin^ he 
could do would be to drown them out, and begin anew; 
so, after talking the matter over with Noah, and tell- 
ing him how to get up a boat that would preservft him- 
self and family, and a pair each of all the animals, 
birds, and insects, he opened the windows of heaven 
and let the rain fall down at such a rapid rate that in 
forty days and nights the whole earth was covered to 
the tops of the highest mountains, or five and a half 
miles deep, and everything was drowned except the 
fishes and the Noah-family in the ark. 

More than a year passed from the commencement 
of the rain before Noah and his family could disem- 
bark to begin again the business of life; and the whole 
thing seems to have been another failure ; for the 
people after the flood were just as bad as before it, and 
nothing was gained by the great freshet. God next 
felt as though he wanted a small portion of the human 
race to attach himself to, and who should share his 
special favors, so he entered into a contract with one 
Abraham, the son of an idolator, that his children 
should be his peculiar people, and that they should 
have more of his care and attention than any other 
portion of the human race. He agreed to stick to 
them forever, and that they should become as numer- 
ous as the sands of the sea-shore; but he had a great 
amount of trouble with this chosen tribe of his, and 
often got vexed with them almost beyond his powers 
of endurance, and he frequently threatened to wipe 
them off the face of the earth. In fact he did several 
times, for trifling offenses slay twenty, and forty, and 
fifty, and seventy thousand at a time. He also sold 
them into slavery, and then emancipated them ; then 
led them forty years through a desert wilderness to 



48 NO All's FLOOD. 

the land of Canaan, where he caused them to wage 
most cruel and exterminating wars upon the na- 
tions who occupied the country, and after a while 
they got to fighting among themselves, and ten- 
twelfths of them wandered away and got lost, and 
have never been heard of since. The two-twelfths 
continued to make him great trouble, absolutely de- 
stroying his peace of mind. He finally permitted 
their best city to be taken, and the magnificent temple 
they had built, to worship and honor him in, to be 
utterly destroyed, and let them go several times into 
slavery to be treated like beasts of burden. He finally 
seems to have given them up as a bad lot, and for two 
thousand years they have had to shift for themselves, 
having no more of God's special care than other 
folks. Thus it seems, to use a common expression, 
God rather **went back" on his contract with his 
chosen people. They never became one thousandth 
part as numerous as the sands of the sea shore, nor 
nearly as numerous as many other nations, and finally 
he seemed to take no greater interest in them than in 
other people. 

Though God met with these repeated failures and 
disappointments he resolved to carry out the grand 
plan he had for thousands of years meditated upon, 
and in a most sublime and god-like manner to rescue 
from eternal destruction the miserable race he had 
created. So he came down out of heaven, and was 
born of a little Jew girl who had never had any sexual 
intercourse with any person of the male gender, ex- 
cept one Ghost. After he was born and grew up, he 
worked at the carpenter trade till he was about thirty 
years of age, when he began to preach about the 
country, and had a dozen fishermen who followed 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 49 

him about from place to place something less than t^o 
years, when his peculiar and chosen people — the 
people too, he had come specially to save — put him to 
death in the most ignominious manner. He did not, 
however, remain dead; after thirty-six hours he came 
to life again, and in forty days he ascended up Into 
heaven where he stays now most of the tiroe. 

This beautiful doctrine did not spread very fast for 
two hundred years, and the believers had to live part 
of the time in caves and other hiding-places ; but at 
last a great heathen emperor named Constantine who 
had murdered his wife, his brother-in-law, his nephew, 
his eldest son and his father-in-law, and who was re- 
used absolution for his crimes by the pagan priests, 
but finding the Christian priests would grant it, and 
seeing he could use the new sect to his advantage he 
became a Christian, and though it never has had but 
about one-twentieth part as many followers as the 
older systems of religion in Asia, from that day 
it soon became the most fashionable and aristocratic re- 
ligion in the southern part of Europe, and at the same 
time the most cruel and bloody in the whole world. 
Over fifty millions of unfortunate people have been 
put to death in its name, and millions of priests have 
been fed and pampered in idleness, simply to dole out 
dogmas to the ignorant, superstitious masses, assuring 
them that those who bow in submission to their dicta- 
tion shall go to heaven and w^ear a crown, and a Vv^hite 
robe, and bow eternally before a white throne singing 
a song which has no end ; while those who do not 
thus bow in submission, or cannot believe the 
story, will be cast into outer darkness and roast for 
millions of years in the eternal flames of fire and 
brimstone, with nothing to breathe but ''sulphurzc 



50 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

Gass." Is it not a pretty picture? If it is a true one, 
it is indeed a great pity tliat God ever experimented in 
making a world or human beings. Non-existence 
would have been infinitely better than such a fate. 
This is Elder Shelton's grand, beautiful '* science of 
salvation." If it is a science, he, and such as he are 
welcome to the whole of it! We want no part in it. 
We much prefer the article of science taught by Gali- 
leo, Humboldt, DarwiD, Spencer, Huxley and Draper. 
Their teachings possess so much more of truth and 
consistency, so much less of superstition, absurdity 
and falsehood that we altogether prefer them. 

A very noticeable trait in Elder Shelton is his de- 
mand for living and reliable witnesses. We spoke of 
the upheavals that have occurred upon the earth, and 
he demands a living witness. Probably some of 
these upheavals took place tens of thousands of years 
ago and perhaps millions of years ago; yet he says, 
*'I want a living witness. " We gave as authority 
Prof. Draper of this city, a man now alive and who is 
second in scientific attainments and reliability to no 
man in this country, in proof that upheavals have re- 
cently taken place in Europe, that half of Norway was 
elevated two feet or more, and that parts of the Alps 
were raised three hundred feet; but as the Bible says 
nothing about it, Elder Shelton won't believe a word of 
it. The same when we told him of information we 
received from an intelligent, honorable gentleman, an 
officer of the navy and a son of a respected patron of 
ours. Yes, when we, a man of veracity and a Truth 
Seeker, narrated a correct account of the happy and 
peaceful condition of the people of Japan, and which 
is corroborated by many writers, he hoots at it and 
calls the gentleman *' a liar." While he is so incredu- 



NOAH'S FLOOD. 51 

Ions about events and occurrences of modern times, 
which, too, are entirely authentic and probable, it is 
amusing to see how easy it is for him to accept without 
the Slightest difficulty the most absurd tales that un- 
known persons said occurred 5000 or 6000 years ago, 
and of an impossible character, written nobody knows 
when, nobody knows where, and nobody knows by 
whom; but because they are bound up in a book and 
called the Bihle^ and priests affirm it is the ** word of 
God," he can swallow every word of it without a grim- 
ace, and look up for more. How would his Bible fare if 
living witnesses, or known witnesses, even, were re- 
quired to sustain it? It would certainly go down! 
But Elder Shelton and all like him are so full of faith, 
and are so ready to accept every absurd tale marked 
** Divine," that they care not who the writer was, or 
whether the story is impossible or absurd. So it pur- 
ports to be Jewish or Christian, **it is all right" — "it 
is the word of God." 

The Elder talks about producing scientists who sus- 
tain the Bible story, and wants us to pay one hundred 
dollars a piece for them. We happen not to have a 
very large amount of money to spare, but we hesitate 
not to guarantee him $100 each for every first-class 
scientist that will say he believes the Universe was 
made in six days from nothing, less than 6000 years 
ago; that the earth is older than the sun, and brought 
forth trees, and plants, and vegetables, perfecting 
seeds and fruits before the sun existed to impart light 
and heat; that it ever rained to the depth of 30,000 feet 
in forty days over the entire earth, or seven hundred 
and fifty feet per day, over thirty- one feet an hour, or 
six inches a minute for six weeks, without intermis- 
sion ; that such a vast body of water could evaporate 



53 noah's flood. 

and be held up by the atmosphere, or otherwise dis- 
posed of ; that a man could cause the sun and moon 
to stand still merely by speaking to them^ that 
there ever was a time when neither rain nor dew fell 
upon the earth for three and a half years ; that three 
men should be thrown into a fiery furnace, made seven 
times hotter than usual, without their being burned at 
all, or a thread of their garments scorched. We 
say, that for 6very eminent scientist that will affirm 
he believes all these absurdities, and scores more of 
similar ones with which the Bible is filled, we will hold 
ourselves in readiness lo pay the Elder his price, and 
feel that the money has been well invested. But 
remember they must be Scientists^ not Elders, Sunday- 
school teachers, bigots nor fools. We do not believe a 
single sound scientist can be found who, for a moment 
believes any such nonsense ; and the men of ordi- 
nary common sense are getting very scarce who long- 
er accept such idle tales. Sensible clergymen, even, 
are fast disavowing such silly stories and are trying to 
modify these statements, or make the language mean 
something else. The Eev. O. A. Burgess, Professor 
in the Theological Seminary of Indianapolis, a man 
who, in natural or acquired ability, would, in any 
community, rank several degrees higher than Elder 
Shelton, in a recent debate with B. F. Underwood ad- 
mitted that Noah's flood was only local in character, 
and probably did not extend beyond Asia Minor. 
But Elder Shelton will have it that it extended to the 
opposite side of the globe, even to Alabama, and cover- 
ed the ridge on which Mr. H. Scott lives, in Blount 
county — poplar trees, and all — with gravel forty 
feet deep. We presume it requires an Ignoramus 
like the Elder, to believe such an event possible ; and 



noah's flood. 53 

It is probably useless to make much effort to get good, 
hard sense into the heads of such. They have so 
much faith there is not much room for sense and 
reason. 

As the Elder calls for a living witness to convince 
him of the truth of upheavals on this continent, we 
will, before dropping him, humor him in this re- 
spect. The witness is one who stands as high as any 
living man, one who is extensively known over the 
entire civilized world, and though his philosophy 
may not in all cases be accepted, his facts always are. 
The name of this distinguished witness is Charles 
Darwin A.M.,F.R.S., of London. In 1831 and '32 the 
British Government sent out the ship Beagle to South 
America on a voyage for scientific purposes. Prof. 
Darwin was commissioned to accompany the expedi- 
tion to make observations in Natural History, Geology, 
etc. While in South America he had excellent op- 
portuities to witness tjie effects of earthquakes and 
volcanoes, as well as upheavals which in various places 
occurred. In describing a severe earthquake which 
took place in South America, Feb. 30th, 1832, while 
he was in the country, and which comprised in 
all, some three hundred separate shocks of greater or 
lesser magnitude, the effects of which extended over 
one thousand miles, he mentions the towns that were 
destroyed ; numberless buildings that were utterly de- 
molished ; the frightful fissures that were made in the 
earth, and goes on to say : ** The most remarkable 
effect of this earthquake was the permanent elevation 
of the land. There can be no doubt that the land 
around the Bay of Concepcion was upraised two or 
three feet, at the Island of St. Maria (about thirty 
miles distant) the elevation was still greater : on one 



54 NOAH S FLOOD. 

part Capt. Fitz Roy found beds of putrid muscle shells 
still adhering to the rocks ten feet above high water 
mark : the inhabitants had formerly dived at low water 
spring tides for these shells. " [This proves the upheaval 
must have been twenty or thirty feet.] *' The eleva- 
tion in this province is particularly interesting from 
its having been the theatre of several other violent 
earthquakes ; and from the vast number of sea-shells 
scattered over the land up to the hight of 600, and I 
believe, 1000 feet. At Valparaiso similar shells are 
found at the hight. of 1300 feet. It is hardly possible 
to doubt that this elevation has been effected by suc- 
cessive small uprisings such as that which accompa- 
nied or caused the earthquakes of this year ; and like- 
wise by an insensibly slow rise which is certainly in 
progress in some parts of this coast." . 

After narrating the powerful effects of the earth- 
quake seven hundred and fiftymilesia one direction and 
our hundred miles in an ot^ier, he takes occasion to 
say, "we may confidently come to the conclusion that 
the forces which slowly and by little starts uplift con- 
tinents, and those which at successive periods pour 
forth volcanic matter from open orifices are identical. 
From many reasons I believe the frequent quakings of 
the earth, on this line of coast, are caused by the rend- 
ing of the strata necessarily consequent on the ten- 
sion of the land when upraised and then injection by 
fluidified rock. This rending and injection would, if 
repeated often enough (and we know earthquakes re- 
repeatedly effect the same areas in the same manner, 
form a chain of hills ; and the linear island of St. 
Mary, which was upraised thrice the height of the 
surrounding country seems to be undergoing this pro- 
cess. I believe the solid axis of a mountain differs in 



NOAH^S FLOOD. 55 

its manner from a volcanic hill only in the molten 
stone having been repeatedly injected instead of hav- 
ing been repeatedly ejected." In this way he believed 
the vast mountain ranges were gradually thrown up 
Irom time to time as these exterior earthquakes oc- 
cur, and he also believed the surface of the earth was 
as variable from the accretions and explosions of in- 
ternal gasses, as the surface of the water, in a com- 
parative degree. 

In speaking of his observations on the northern 
coast of Chili, he uses this language : **I have con- 
vincing proofs that this part of the continent has been 
elevated near the coast four hundred to five hundred, 
and in some parts from one thousand to thirteen 
hundred feet since the epoch of existing shells ; and 
further inland the rise has probably been greater." 
**At Lima a sea-beach has certaiiily been upheaved 
eighty to ninety feet within the Indio-human 
period." 

Mr. Darwin narrates finding sea shells and other 
washings of the ocean in many places hundreds of 
feet above the surface of the water, showing at some 
time or times great upheavals have taken place. He also 
speaks of a pyramid ial island in the ocean, around 
whose borders soundings are seventeen hundred feet, 
showing at some time it was thrown up by the inter- 
nal forces. He also gives an account of a new island 
coming to the surface by the effects of an earthquake. 
He also believed in England, France, Switzerland, 
and many other countries, the same condition of in- 
ternal commotion had at some age of the world taken 
place, by which the mountain ranges had been pro- 
duced, and that quietness had succeeded the spending 
of their internal forces. But we cannot quote him 



56 NOAH'S FLOOD. 

further now. These interesting statements may be 
found in his Journal of BesearcJies in Natural History 
and Geology y during the voyage of H. M. S, Beagle; 
two volumes ; published by Harper & Brothers. 

Prof. Darwin is one of the men Elder Shelton 
thinks a poison-hearted Infidel, and one who resorts 
to *' pitiful subterfuges" in order to get rid of Bible 
truths, and one whom the Devil ought to get, and 
immerse in the flames of hell forever, for presuming 
to bring any facts to light that clash with the Bible 
story. Let the Elder enjoy this beautiful thought if 
it affords him pleasure. In the meantime the sensi- 
ble portion of the world regard Charles Darwin as 
one of the greatest minds, and one of the most reliable 
authorities our time has produced. By him we have 
proved the positive occurrence of upheavals on this- 
continent, and we hardly think Elder Shelton, by his 
ignorant sneers and idiotic slurs, can gainsay the facts 
Darwin establishes. 

We are not sure such ponderous minds as Elder 
Shelton's can accept testimony so obscure as Prof. 
Darwin's, and he, doubtless, will still insist that there 
have been no upheavals on this continent because the 
Bible says nothing about it, and will still claim that all 
the mountain ranges were caused by Noah's flood, 
when the ** foundations of the great deep were bro- 
ken up" ; and that no changes have taken place in the 
earth ex^jept what are mentioned in the Bible. Is it 
not a little curious that the flood which was sent to cover 
the tops of the highest mountains should at the same 
time have brought these very mountains into existence ? 
This is a specimen of Elder Shelton's logic. What a 
great mind! 

We will not object, however, should the Elder 



NOAH*S FLOOD. 57 

still believe in the flood and all the otner monstrous 
Bible stories, if he finds they suit his grade of intellect. 
We are convinced, nevertheless, that people of good 
sense are ceasing to believe them, and fast turning their 
attention to scientific authors, and informing them- 
selves on subjects of which the ignorant writers of 
the Bible had not the slightest conception. 

We will be content to let the Elder continue to im- 
agine in his simple heart that the world is indebted to 
the Bible for the advances that have been made in 
knowledge, education, civilization, law, and the arts 
ajQd science, though there is not a word of truth in 
it. It has given the world none of these; but has 
been the source of incomparable error, mental blind- 
ness, superstition, carnage and bloodshed — which can 
be easily shown. But if the great Alabamian derives 
pleasure from the follies and absurdities he fondly 
clasps to his bosom, it is not in our heart to tear them 
from him, and thus render him unhappy. Let him 
be *' joined to his idols," let him still dream on about 
miracles and floods, and ghosts and gods, and devils 
and bibles and revelations, until he has lived out his 
days and gives place to those who will exercise their 
thought, their reason and their common sense. 

We can follow Elder Shelton no longer ; we have, 
we fear, already given him more attention than his 
mental calibre and his low estimate of good- breeding 
would seem to justify. 






[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 28.] 



A REPLY TO 

Elder Shelton's Fourth Letter* 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



rFrom The Teuth SEEKEUof July I5th. 1875,] 



This valorous defender of ancient superstitions and 
absurdities evidently does not belong to those govern- 
ed by the rule " three times and out." We have al- 
ready published three of his frothy, feeble letters and 
supposed we had done with him, but here he comes 
again with another of his vapid productions, which 
he wants us to print, and as he promises, upon his 
** sacred honor," this is his last, we will, notwith- 
standing the decision we had formed to the contrary, 
let him be heard still once more. He will under- 
stand, however, this must be the last. We have his 
measure ; we know what there is in him, and it is of 
a quality that will not bear repetition. 



3 A BKPLY TO 

Beooksville, Blount Co., Ala., June 8th, 1875 
Mb. D. M. Bennett— >Sir : Being warned,, in your very- 
kind and generous communications to me, published in 
your so called Tbuth Seeker, that you can follow me no 
longer, and hinted Slightly at my Ignorance and great 
lack of being a gentleman in all things. But stated that 
you were going to publish a small pamphlet containing 
the discussion between this (ignoramos) and yourself. If 
you are so well informed and I am so ignorant; I am 
sure the pamphlet will not bring any credit or profflt to 
either of us. But for fear you do take a curious notion 
and print such a pamphlet, I send this as a closing x\.rti- 
ele of recapitulation. There is one thing that I acknowl- 
.edge, you can beat me at ; It is a low vulgar kind of Bid- 
icule against all things that are holy, and righteous.written 
in the word of God, with a vulgar pregudice actuated by a 
diabolical heart, and a diseased conscience. You seem to 
think it very strange that I should believe in the Scrip- 
tural account of the flood, though I have indubitable evi- 
dences of such a flood and evidence that you have tried to 
ridicule but have not nor never will overthrow by false ar- 
gument, which is so thin that a twelve year old boy could 
not fail to detect it. And right on the end of this ; insult 
my senses by quoting B. F. Underwood on Evolution, lOth 
page Teuth Seekee, June 1st. In a Lecture by that gen- 
tleman he states that our Solar system was once a Are 
mist, and also that life appeared in the same way Now, 
I do think that, that Theory is along way more mistical 
or more properly (misty) than the flood possibly could be, 
so much so that none but Philosophical ManiacJcs could 
possibly believe it. And Mr. Editor you and B. F.Under- 
wood may both go and seek your Ancesters among the Ape 
and monkey tribes, in your false Theories. I assure you 
they are no connexior of mine. 

I try to worship a God that has made man and has given 
him Soul and Spirit life, which elevates him far above the 
scale of Animal beings. Not a drop of animal or mon- 
key blood tracks its course through my veins. I claim 
that God made me a human being, and you and professor 
Underwood can have as much animal about you as you 
want. But I will stop right here and ask you and the 
Professor whajt created this Are mist, which has created 



ELDER SHELTON'S FOURTH LETTER. 3 

the Universe. I reeon both of you can give me about as 
good answer to this, as the negro did when asked, what 
he believed the Earth stood on, he said it stood on a large 
Durham Bull, when asked what the Bull stood on, said 
chat it stood on a large Turtle, and when asked what the 
Turtle stood on, said Ixe did not know unless it floated 
about on the sea of nothing. Hence such systems gener- 
ally taper down to a fire mist or otherwise vapor and 
smoke. Such men are determined not to have the Soul 
humbling doctrine of the Gospel, and the flood, though 
an Angel declare it unto them, and though a righteous 
Moses should by Inspiration, tell them how the Earth was 
made, and how the flood came, yet my Editor is compell- 
ed to believe Mr. Underwood's fire mist Theory of the 
Universe because he sees, or imagines he sees, a great 
deal of nice Philosophy in it. Oh! consistency thou art 
a Jewel. Now, Sir in conclusion I will honestly say to 
you that I would not have my wife to believe as you do for 
nothing in the world ; you may ask me why. It is because 
the fear of the God of the Universe would not be implant- 
ed in her heart, the fear of hell and the reward of heaven 
would not be in her mind. Creating a good conscience 
within, which never mislead any one, I would be afraid 
of such a wife, from the fact that she might get the free 
love fever, in her head, and would be free to love some 
bodr besides the old man of the house, and if there is no 
God, no Heaven, no Hell, she might undertake to make 
the ]yest of surrounding circumstances, and poke a spider 
in the old man's dumpling ; knowing that there would be 
no Hell, nor a Just God to punish such conduct, then she 
could go and exercise her free love with her free lover, 
under her grand system of Infidel belief which things go 
hand in hand and beautifully harmonizes in this present 
world. And there is another thing, I will never suffer an 
Infidel or Materialist to swear in Court against me, nor 
neither will I vote for one to fill any office. You see at 
once that I firmly believe that it is the Bible and the words 
of Christ, that has made us such a great civil and relig- 
ious Government, and have made so many millions of 
noble hearted, and pious men and women. Look at 
China, look at Africa, and all the heathen countries that 
have not the Bible, and see how degraded thev are. The 



i A REPLY TO 

man that would tear away every thing that makes a peo- 
ple noble, and happy, certainly is a monster. I now close 
on my part, the argument on the flood question, if my 
theory is correct, I will meet you at the Judgement, and 
then we will know how it is, but if you are right there 
will be no Judgement, and it will not matter whether any 
thing was ever right or no. Please publish this as my 
closing remarks ; you can close on your part as you see 
proper, and do not stop to q.uibble about our bad spell- 
ing or grammar. I want you to meet the argument if 
you can. If you publish in Pamphlet form, send me two 
or three copies and I will send you an equivalent for 
them. Eldee J. 0. Shelton. 

Reply. — Much that the^ Elder says is unworthy a 
reply, containing, as it does^ neither sense nor argu- 
ment. His talk about our ** vulgar prejudice,'' our 
** diabolical heartland ** diseased conscience" is a 
kind of Christian twaddle not worth noticing. 

He is quite welcome to the 'indubitable proof" he 
boasts of having of Noah's flood. He is, perhaps, en- 
titled to boast a little, for he is the only person in the 
world that has any such proof. If, however, that pop- 
lar log in Mr. Scott's ridge in Blount Co., Alabama, 
which he mentioned in his first letter, is his indubit- 
able proofs he can have the enjoyment of it all alone 
to himself, for nobody else will regard it as having the 
most distant connection with Noah's flood any more 
than it had with the whale's swallowing Jonah. 

The Elder seems offended at us; he says, **And 
right on the end of this, insult my senses by quoting 
B. F. Underwood on Evolution, on tenth page ol 
Truth Seeker, June 1st." Now it seems to us if 
Elder Shelton had the intelligence of a three year old 
Esquimaux boy, he would not have fallen into the mis- 
take that we were quoting B. F. Underwood on him, 
and he would have been saved this dire insult he com- 



ELDER SHELTON'S FOURTH LETTER. 5 

plains of. In that number of our paper we gave a 
synopsis of a lecture of Mr. Underwood on Evolu- 
tion, but it had no more reference to Elder Shelton 
or his belief than to a blind Hottentot and his fetish 
idol. Possibly, the simple Elder thought all The 
Truth Seeker contained was addressed to him per- 
sonally. If so, he is mistaken ; true, we gave up con- 
siderable space to him, but not the entire paper. 

Smarting under this imagined insult, that the fire- 
mist theory should be quoted on him, with a zeal 
worthy of Sancho Panza, he at once draws his spear 
and charges upon the dangerous foe — the windmill of 
Evolution. In the simplicity of his heart, he sup- 
poses the fire-mist theory is a new idea of Mr. Under- 
wood's. Probably he never heard of it before, and is 
wholly unaware it has been taught more than fifty 
years by La Place, Herschel and other distinguished 
philosophers and astronomers who found evidence in 
the Universe that not only the solar system, but other 
suns and worlds have evolved from a nebular state oi 
fire-mist. Indications are found with the aid of immense 
telescopes, that worlds in their very infancy, are now 
emerging from this condition and are gradually con- 
densing and evolving into solid spheres. But the 
pious Elder, deeming this a new heresy of Mr. Un- 
derwood's, rushes upon it in his most valorous 
style. Having never read anything of fire-mists in 
the Bible ; finding nothing of it in the song of Moses 
and the Lamb, he essays to demolish it at once. Stay, 
Elder Shelton, sheath thy sword, thou art hardly the 
man to overthrow the theories and deductions of the 
great astronomers named. 

To the Elder's question, who made the fire-mist? 
we have to reply, it was not made. It was a form of 



6 A REPLY TO 

matter of which the Universe is composed, and al 
ways existed, the same as he would say his God has 
It is so easy for him to believe his God always exist- 
ed, why cannot he strain his imagination a little and 
think something else might also have always existed f 
Can he imagine how God could exist for countless 
ages with nothing else in existence besides ? WherP 
did he stay, and what was he doing for myriads uf 
ages ? Is it really any more dilficult to • understand 
that matter, in some form, should ever have existed 
than that God is capable of making the boundless 
Universe of nothing, and that he existed alone with 
nothing besides him for numberless trillions of years 
before he commenced the enterprise of making a Uni- 
verse ? 

The Elder is positive that not a drop of monkey blood 
courses through his veins ; but we are not so sure of 
it. Were he to compare a little of his blood with the 
blood of an ape or monkey, he would not find much 
difference. 

The Elder is so well pleased with his story about 
the negro, the Durham bull, and the large turtle, 
we will leave him in the enjoyment of it. There 
is nothing in the story, and besides he has changed 
it from what it used to be, but it appears just fitted to 
his calibre, and we are content. 

The Elder's most powerful argument in this fourth 
letter is where he says he would not have his wife 
believe as we do **for nothing in the world," for fear 
she would get the fi*ee-love fever in her head and leave 
him and the house and children to go after some other 
man, first putting spiders in his dumplings and 
poisoning him off and getting him oui of the way. 



ELDER SHELTOIn'o FOURTH LETTER T 

We believe that is the last argument against infidelity- 
he have yet heard. 

We are tmly sorry the simple Elder thinks no more 
of his wife than that it requires a belief in a Devil and 
a hell to keep her from feeding him upon spiders and 
running off over the country with some gayer Lothar- 
io than himself. No\^ we think much better of Mrs. 
Shelton than her husband does. We do not believe 
she would do any such thing, even if she should cease 
to have faith in a Devil. It would be a monster that 
would mix spiders in dumplings and pies to feed her 
husband and children, and we do not believe Mrs, 
Shelton is that kind of a woman. She may not have 
exercised good judgment in selecting a husband, but 
we have no idea she wants to kill him. 

How little, indeed. Elder Shelton seems to know 
about Liberals and unbelievers, and how bad his own 
heart must be, to suppose, because a person has not 
his crude belief to govern them, they would wish to 
kill somebody and commit other heinous crimes. If 
the Elder is really such a man that it requires his re- 
ligious faith to keep him from committing inhuman 
offences, we pity him, and are compelled to give some 
credit to his belief, as abhorent as it otherwise is. The 
Elder we repeat knows very little about unbelievers or 
Infidels. Probably he has never met many. He lives 
in a part of the country where Freethinkers do not 
greatly abound, and where it is customary for every 
negro, however ignorant, and every white man, how- 
ever unlearned, without the first doubt or enquiry to 
believe in a Devil, a hell and a cruel God who begat a 
son with a young Jewish maiden, and though he was 
much pleased with his son, he caused him to be put to 
death in a most cruel manner, on account of the great 



3 A REPLY TO 

animosity he held towards the human family. Nearly 
every negro in Alabama believes this beautiful creed, 
and so does Elder Shelton. 

As the Elder knows so little about the character of 
those who difter from him in belief, we will conde- 
scend to enlighten him if he is able to receive it. Wa 
will be glad if he can believe the truth. We have 
met many unbelievers in the Christian dogmas and for 
years have been well acquainted with considerable 
numbers of them, and we have invariably found them 
good, well-disposed people, who neither wished to 
murder nor violate the laws of the land. We have 
found them quite as moral and upright, as honorable 
and honest as the best Christians we ever met. Infidel 
women are as virtuous, stay at home as well and are 
as true to their husbands as any class of wives in the 
country. We and our wife have jogged along together 
thirty years ; her belief corresponds closely with our 
own, and we can bear cheerful evidence that she has 
been a faithful, good wife. We have not the slightest 
idea that she ever put a single spider in our food, in 
fact we have noticed, she has been very careful 
a fly even did not get in; nor have we ever had occa- 
sion for the faintest suspicion that she was running ofl 
on free-loving expeditions with other men. No, no. 
Elder Shelton, Infidel women do not act that way ; 
they are governed by honest convictionte and upright 
principles, and not by fear of the Devil. You have 
made a sad mistake, good Elder ; it is Christian 
women that most practice free-love; it is in Christian 
Churches to-day that free-love most largely abounds. 
There is scarcely a Church in the country that has not 
more or less of it. There is scarcely a priest, pastor 
or elder but what is guilty of loving the sisters too 



well. There are, unfortunately, hundreds and thou- 
sands of sisters ready and willing to yield themselves 
a free offering to please these good men of God, whom 
they so highly revere. We can scarcely pick up a 
paper but what we find accounts of some new case cf 
some preacher having criminal connection with some 
of the sisters of his flock, and not one case in a score 
is ever allowed to come to the light. There is vastly 
more of this kind of business going on in the church- 
es than outsiders dream of. Talk, indeed, about In- 
fidels being free lovers! Christian preachers and eld- 
ers have no occasion to look outside the churches for 
that article. And why should not the dear sisters be 
all to them the name of wife implies ? It is scarcely 
wrong to please a man of God, and if it is, if it is 
even sin, if they only have faU\ the blessed Savior 
wipes it all away — he pays the debt, if any is con- 
tracted. Though their sins be as red as scarlet, he 
makes them as white as wool. Even Elder Shelton 
himself, if we had a full account of his ** true inward- 
ness " would not, we fear, show an entirely clear rec- 
ord. It is quite likely that a man of so much faith has 
abounded in works also, if not, he is an exception to 
the general rule. 

Among all the Infidels we have known, we never 
knew a woman that fed her husband on a xiiet of 
spiders; nor have we known a man who died of eating 
spiders. That is entirely a figment of Elder Shelton's 
brain. We beg him to divest himself of it and to try 
and have a little more confidence in his injured wife. 
She is probably a better woman than he would be in 
her place. 

The pious Elder shows his illiberality by saying, **I 
will never suffer an Infidel or a Materialist to swear in 



10 A REPLY TO 

Court against me, nor will I vote for one to fill any 
office. " He doubtless feels just as he says. He would 
deprive every Infidel of giving evidence in courts 
of justice, and of holding offices of honor and 
trust. What a bad heart he must have, and how 
fortunate it is for we poor unbelievers that all Chris- 
tians do not feel just as he does, and that his sort are 
not more numerous than they are. Why, if Elder 
Shelton could have his way, we would not be allowed 
to breathe ; for, by the same rule that he would de- 
prive us of the right to testify and hold office, he 
would deprive us of the right to think for ourselves, 
to speak and to breathe. That is precisely the spirit 
that actuated Christians in the past centuries in putting 
to death hundreds of thousands, yes, millions of un- 
fortunate heretics that did not think and believe as the 
Christians said they must. These cruel murderers 
were simply Elder Shelton's, who were satisfied they 
were right and were determined every body should 
arrive at the same conclusions they did. How unjust 
and untrue the decision that a man cannot tell the 
truth and is not to be allowed to give his evidence in 
courts who does not believe the Christian dogmas ; 
as though any special form of belief makes a man 
truthful. 

If any difference is to be made betwee^n a Christian 
and an Infidel, the latter should have the preference. 
Christians, usually, are a class who subscribe to a 
set of dogmas or articles of belief without much scru- 
tiny, doubt or investigation. They take for granted 
everything their preacher or elder tells them is true, 
and like an unfledged robin they swallow it without 
hesitation, especially so, since it is the popular creed 
and more respectable than to be a heretic. With an 



ELDER SHELTON's FOURTH LETTER. 11 

Infidel it is quite different ; he doubts much that to 
him appears mythical and improbable; much that 
Btrikes him as unreasonable and absurd; he brings his 
reason to bear and tests the creeds presented to him 
by this excellent guide ; he requires proof before he 
can give his assent to any code of dogmas and whether 
he is popular or unpopular he does not pretend to be- 
lieve that which to his reason is unfounded and absurd. 
He does not seek popularity, nor join a Church to get 
into good society or to gain the approbation of Mrs. 
Grundy or Mrs. Upper-Crust. He is emphatically an 
independent and an honest man. He reveres truth and 
uprightness for their own sake, not because he is told 
of an cloven-footed Devil with pitchfork, who is after 
him to pitch him into a fiery lake of burning brim- 
stone. As a rule, he is a man of veracity and his 
simple word is quite as good in a court of justice or 
any where else, as the oath of Elder Shelton or any 
Christian in the land. When a man is willing to 
stem the popular current of thought, and estimates 
truth and reason higher than he does popularity; 
when he is willing to class himself with those despised 
and traduced for opinion's sake ; when he hesitates 
not to incur obloquy and hatred that he may give ut- 
terance to his honest convictions, depend upon it, he 
is a reliable, honest man, and his word may be taken 
[in every place and condition. This is not true of 
I the sycophantic, the priestly dupe who believes, or 
' pretends to believe whatever the dignataries of the 
Church tell him he must believe, and that by so doing 
he will not only lay up treasures in heaven, but be 
ranked with the most respected and fashionable class- 
! es in this world. 
j The Elder spurns the idea of votinej for an Infidel 



12 A REPLY TO 

for office, but many better men have thought differ 
ently from him. Among the Presidents this country 
has had, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas 
Jefferson, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln may 
be classed as Infidels. They were unbelievers in the 
fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and several of 
them were decided in their infidelity. Were they not 
honorable, worthy men ? Was not their word and oath 
good enough to be taken in a court of justice, and 
was it not an honor for honest, upright men to vote 
for them ? 

In the claim Elder Shelton sets up, that the Bible 
and the words of Christ have done so much towards 
civilizing the world, he exclaims, **Look at China, 
look at Africa !" Well, what of them ? China, it is 
true, is an Infidel nation, but barring the evils of over- 
population, she is doing very well. The Chinese are 
probably not equal in all respects to the Anglo-Saxon 
race, but they are peaceful, intelligent, industrious and 
law-abiding. There is not half the crime among them, 
no scarcely ten per cent, the crime there that exists in 
the same amount of population in Christian nations — 
400,000,000. Their religion is as good as the Chris- 
tian religion, and the morals which Confucius hUnded 
dowp to them are equally as pure as those taught later 
by Jesus ; and they have not taken one life in war and 
bloodshed where Christians have taken thousands. So 
much for China. 

Africa, of course, is a country of gross ignorance, 
and the people suffer greatly from a lack of enter- 
prise and general intelligence, but they are full of su- 
perstition and religion. In fact ignorance and religion 
seem to go hand in hand. Where one exists, there 
will you always find the other. The grosser the ignor 



ELDER SHELTON'S FOURTH LETTER. 13* 

ranee, the greater the mental darkness that submerges 
a people, the more they abound in superstition, base- 
less myths and absurd beliefs. Africa is a country 
which shows what an excess of religion, founded on 
mythical superstition, will do for a people. The 
only hope for her is in the diffusion of intelligence, edu- 
cation, enterprise and consequently infidelity y by other 
more advanced nations. In short, this is the great 
need of the world — more knowledge, more science,, 
more reason and common sense ; less belief in myths 
and miracles, less superstition, less faith in a super- 
natural religion, less priestcraft and less yielding up 
to priests the intelligence and reason the God of the 
Universe imparted to man, to guide and govern him. 
The world needs more a rule of reason, more infidel- 
ity and less supernaturalism and mysticism. 

Wc have cheering hopes for the future of our race. 
In i\td next two centuries we expect much greater 
gains will be made in the domain of reason, science 
and tmth than in the last thousand years. The power 
of priestcraft will be terribly shaken, if not wholly 
overthrown; revealed religion wiH be at a great dis- 
count and certain knowledge will supplant mysticism 
and superstitious vagaries. Christianity is not to be 
the religion of the future. It is one of the religions 
of the past ; it has not come up to the necessities of 
the race, and is destined to pass away. The religion 
of the future will be the Beligion of Humanity, and 
will embrace all that benefits mankind morally, physic- 
ally and intellectually. How to teach the race what 
is needful for them, how to beget healthy, well-devel- 
oped children, how to live healthfully and in accord- 
ance with physiological laws, how to lessen disease, 
how to increase longevity, how to select and perfect the 



14 A REPLY TO 

wisest and best social conditions, how to live usefully, 
amicably and happily, how to control the baser pas- 
sions, how to acquire the most intelligence, how to 
gain the most scientific information, will be th« labor 
of coming generations. Pagodas, mosques, syna- 
gogues, cathedrals, churches and chapels will not be 
erected as much as now, but more schools of sci- 
ence and more institutions of learning, freed from 
sectarianism. The world will need fewer oracles, 
dervishes, priests, monks, pastors and elders, but 
more teachers of science and the manifold laws of 
the Universe. The attention of the race wil> be de- 
Toted to making this life and this world as useful and 
:as happy as possible, rather than in frantic efforts to 
■evade the imaginary punishments of a future exist- 
ence. Men will then learn to know and comprehend 
God as he is — the inherent power and force which gov- 
erns the Universe ; and the monstrosities which men 
in dark ages have devised will pass away, and no lon- 
ger frighten children or grown people. When this rule 
is inaugurated, the true millennium will have arrived 
— the rule of reason and of love of the human race. 

We must now take our final leave of Elder Shelton ; 
we have our part to perform in the direction just indi- 
cated, and cannot spend too much time with him. 
He may naturally be a good sort of person, but he has 
so much superstition, so much blind faith, and so 
much ignorance that they nearly ruin him. If he 
had more intelligence and less religion, he doubtless 
would do very well. We would gladh'' have him em- 
brace the truth as it is in nature and reason, if he had 
the honesty and capacity to comprehend it, but we 
are not very hopeful of him. We fear he is too far 



ELDER SHELTON's FOURTH LETTER. 15 .>^ 

gone to be cuied ; but while the lamp holds out to 
burn, the simplest dupe may return. 

The Elder is certainly entitled to some credit ; he is 
not unwilling to discuss the pro and con of what he 
believes, howe^^er absurd it may be. It is seldom we 
find a Christian preacher willing to fairly discuss with 
a Freethinker. They either lack confidence in their 
own arguments or have too much fear of the Infidel's 
logic. The Elder having full confidence in his own 
abilities and equally as much in his creed steps boldly 
forward. How much he has aided his side we will 
not undertake to say. We wish his cause was worthy 
of his zeal. 

The Elder dropped a word about our vulgar kind of 
ridicule, etc. He wrongs us. We have not been 
vulgar; but had he assumed more the conduct of a 
gentleman, and shown more of good manners, we 
should have treated him more re!?pectfully. If he 
thinks we have said aught amiss in this direction, he 
has himself only to blame. Dear Elder Shelton, good 
bve. 



[Truth {Seeker Tracts. No. 25. J 



Discussion with George Snode. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the many friendly and appreciative letters 
we receive from all parts of the country, we occasion- 
ally get one of an opposite character, and as we are 
rather fond of publishing those of the first-class, it is, 
perhaps, only just to give one of the latter. The 
following is one of these, and not to do our ex-patron 
icjustice we will give his letter verbatim et literatim : 

Beloit. 0., Jan. I6th, 1875. 
Mr. Bennett Dear Sir: Please Stop Your Truth Seeker. 
I do not See what good you Expect to Derive from Pub- 
lishing such Nonsense and foolishness as is Printed in 
What you call the T. S. It most certainly mistakes its 
name and clings to Things and Doctrines That you and 
your Coajutors in spreading such pernicious DocU*ine 
Poisoning the minds of the rising Generation, Desecra- 
ting everything that tends to Enoble man and tends to 
make home enjoyable. You Disrobe man of all; you 
Draw the Centre Bolt that Keeps Nations Governments 
and Hearthstones together: Send men and nations on 
the Ocean of Distrust and Unbelief like a clock without 
its Weights ; all Confusion and Disorder. 

Yours in the Hope of reform, 

George Snode. 



3 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

Reply. — We are, of course, sorry to lose a single 
patron, but more sorry that reading The Truth 
Seeker a year and a half, has done Mr. Snode no more 
good. He seems to be as much in the dark as though 
he had never seen a Liberal paper. He appears to 
regard Freethought and Free Speech with great dis- 
favor. We, of course, regret that we fail to meet his 
approbation in the course we are honestly pursuiag; 
but we cannot see that he has anything better to offer 
us, than the errors and absurdities which the hireling 
priests have been dealing out to the world for hun- 
dreds of years. Their fables and fallacies will not 
satisfy the enquiring, scientific minds of to-day. 
The thoughtful are reaching for a higher phase of 
truth than the superstitions of the past. We think 
we shall be content to pursue the highest truth we 
can find, in company with such men as Humboldt, 
Spencer, Huxley, Darwin, Mill, Crookes, Varley, 
Wallace, Draper, and other scientific men of that 
class, rather than to pick up the dry husks of error 
that old theology has to present, though we have to 
part company with Mr. George Snode. 

We are also sorry that our friend in ordering The 
Truth Seeker stopped, did not deem it a matter of 
right and justice to pay for the time he has been 
served with it. He paid last year for Vol. I, but for 
the ten numbers of Vol. II which have been sent him, 
not a cent has he paid. Among publishers and read- 
ers, it is usually considered honorable for a man, 
when he stops his paper, to pay up for the time he has 
taken it. The law also declares a man bound to pa}' 
for a paper so long as he takes it from the post-oflSce, 
whether he ordered it or not. It is a very small mat- 
ter to notify a publisher to discontinue his paper, or 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 6 

request his postmaster to do so, and to remit the 
amount in arrears, We hope none of our readers 
wish us to furnish the paper for nothing. Had Mr. 
Snode paid the seventy -five cents due us, we should 
think more of his religion, more of his honor, and 
part with him in friendship. We hope, too, he will 
some day obtain a better view of that which is true, 
and be less swayed by prejudice and early education. 



Rejoinder from Snode. 

Beloit. Ohio, Feb. 8th, 1875. 

Mr. Bennent, Dear Sir : The Truth Seeker of Febru- 
ary 1st Contains a article to stop your Paper, written over 
my signature; you called it uncomplimentary (Thanks 
for the concession) I should have been sorry indeed, if 
you had construed it in any other way ; Was sorry that 
I forgot the sum due on your paper, as I do not want you 
to estimate my Eeligion and honor as low as you do your 
friendship, which can be bought, sold and bartered away 
for seventy-five cents, (For that is the amount that sever- 
ed us, taking your own Word for it) I shall remit that 
amount with the greatest of Pleasure ; and Pleas accept 
my thanks for the great favor you conferred by giving my 
name a Place in your Dr. column. 

1st. You say you are sorry that " a year's Reading the 
T S. has done me no more good. 

My Dear Sir do you go to the gutters of your city or 
some filthy stagnant Pool to wash, and expect to come 
away clean and refreshed ? 

Or when you want to breathe the pure fresh air, do you 
go to some back filthy alley or some loathsome dark dun- 
geon ? Or are you in the habit of going in a cellar or a 
coal bank to see the sunshine ; Instinct would teach you 
better than that, if nothing else. 

I intend to go to the fountain head for all Pure good and 



4 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

enobling thoughts to guide my steps in this world let that 
be to sustain my Physical, Moral, spiritual or mental. 

2d. You think I am as much in the dark as though I had 
never seen a "liberal Paper." Mr. Bennett Pleas tell me 
what good has such liberal Papers and free speech done 
in the world? We only have to look at France, Blood 
Washed Infidel France, and that answers all. 

Infidelity was the mother. Disbelief and Obscenity the 
Cradle that nursed and cradled the viper that poisoned 
her life's blood. 

You say, "the thoughtful are reaching for a higher 
phase of truth." A Heard of men that can see more beau- 
ty and morality in the Koran (than in the Bible) a Book 
that has very little novelty or Originality to recommend 
it, the most material parts of it being borrowed from the 
Old Testament or the New. and eaven these are so de- 
formed by passing through the hands of the impostor, 
who vitiates and debases everything he touches* In the 
Koran, Mahomet continually hosting of his own merits 
and the Excelencies of his book the son of Mary is the 
opposite. 

3d. When Infidelity triumphs in any heart the hope of 
imortality is Banished; It crowns the Tyrant Death for- 
ever on his Throne and seals the Conquest of the grave 
over the human race forever, it wraps the tomb in eternal 
darkness, and suffers not one Particle of the remains of 
the great, the Wise, the good, of all ages to see the light 
of eternity ; but consigns by an irreversible doom all that 
was admired, loved and revered in man, to perpetual an- 
nihilation. It identifies man with the vilest reptile and 
levels man to the grade of the meanest weed whose utility 
is yet undiscovered. 

You rob him of everything which could make him dear 
to himself, and proud of his Existence, it murders all his 
hopes of future being and future bliss. It cuts the cable 
and casts away the golden Anchor and sets man adrift on 
the ocean of uncertainity to become the sport of the Wind 
and wsiwes of animal passion and appetites untill at last 
in some tremendous gale " he sinks to everlasting ruin." 
O skepticism is this thy Philosophy— is this thy Bosted 
victory over the Bible? And for this extinguishment of 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

li^htand life eternally, What do you teach? You teach 
us to live according to our appetites and Passions, a 
mear animal life ; You might well teach with zeal and ex- 
ert all your energies for your heaven is only worthy of 
your efforts and the Purity of your life is just suited to 
the high hopes of eternal annihilation. - 

Yours in the hope of a hereafter, 

Geoege Snode. 

P..S. Mr. B. I have confidence enough in your honor 
as a man and as one of those that is earnestly seeking af- 
ter " a higher phase of morality" and better code of mor- 
als that you will let the readers of the T. S. know that I 
have Paid the price of lost friendship " 75 cents." I would 
not lose the Friendship of a dog for that sum much less 
that of one of the poor deluded sons of Adam. 

Respectfully. G. S. 

Reply. — We cheerfully lay the fact before our read- 
ers, that Mr. George Snode has sent in the sum of 
seventy-five cents, which pays for The Truth Seek- 
er up to the time of his discontinuance. We are 
obliged to him for this compliance on his part, to the 
rules of right and justice. The publishing of his let- 
ter with our accompanying remarks, has done this 
much good, if no more. If by the same means, oth- 
ers in arrears — both those who have stopped and those 
who have not stopped their papers — can be induced 
to do likewise, we will feel well repaid. Seventy-five 
cents is not an immense sum to us, but a good many 
of these together, count up and we find these little 
amounts very necessary in meeting the bills presented 
to us. 

As to the sum of seventy-five cents buying our 
friendship or respect, our friend slightly misappre- 
hends us. Though it does cause us to esteem a man 
higher if he pays what he justly owes, it does not buy 
our respect for a blackguard nor a falsifier. 



6 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

It seems our remarks had the effect to draw Mr. S. 
out — not only his pocket-book, but his piety and his- 
torical lore. We only wish he had adhered more 
closely to the truth in his rejoinder. An Infidel val- 
ues the truth very highly, and expects to be amenable 
if he violates it. With a Christian it makes not so 
much difference; if he deviates from the truth, or com- 
mits any other offense against morality, the one he 
depends upon for righteous'ness and atonement, will, 
he expects, pay all such debts he may contract, and he 
hopes to shine even brighter in glory than he who de- 
pends upon his own good deeds for happiness and 
justification. 

Mr. Snode says, **when Infidelity triumphs in any 
heart, the hope of immortality is banished." This is 
wholly untrue. There are hundreds of thousands in 
this country, and hundreds of millions in the world 
who are entirely infidel to the system of Christianity, 
and yet entertain a bright and cheerful hope of a life 
beyond the grave; and we think a far more consistent 
one than the average Christian. True, immortality is 
a mystery; many cannot understand how organized 
beings, who had a beginning fifty or seventy-five 
years ago, can become immortal or never-ending, and 
they have doubts upon the subject. Others have re- 
ceived proofs that are satisfactory to them, that there 
is an intelligence outside the body, and that their 
friends and relatives who have passed out of sight, 
still exist and retain their identity. Unfortunately, 
Christianity throws no light upon this subject, and 
what belief or views it has, were borrowed from the 
heathen religions which preceded it. It so happens, 
however, that no belief that may be entertained upon 
the subject, makes the slightest difference as *o the 



DISCUSSIC^ WITH GEORGE SNODE. 7 

facts. Whether we exist as individuals after death or 
not, belief or non-belief in the matter cannot possibly 
change it in one direction or the other. If there is a 
brighter world after this, an honest Infidel will donbt- 
less be quite as well prepared for it, as a canting, self- 
righteous, hypocritical Christian. 

Mr. S. says, ** Infidelity crowns the tyrant, Death, 
forever on his throne, and seals the conquest of the 
grave over the human race forever; it wraps the tomb 
in eternal darkness, and suflers not one particle of 
the remains of the great, the wise, the good of all ages 
to see the light of eternity, but consigns to an irrevers- 
ible doom, all that was admired, loved and revered in 
man, to perpetual annihilation." This is also utterly 
false. There are ten times, yes, probably twenty 
times as many Infidels in the world who believe in a 
happy existence after death, as there are Christians. 
As we just remarked, however, no belief we may hold 
upon the subject, can make the slightest change in the 
reality; what we want is the truth, so far as it can be 
ascertained ; and this is what the intelligent Infidel is 
searching after. The most skeptical view that is en- 
tertained, is not so horrible as our friend paints it. It 
is simply that we return to the same condition we oc- 
cupied previous to our birth. We never heard any 
one bewail the death, the horror and the eternal dark 
n^ss he was in previous to his existence. 

What, on the other hand, is the future which the 
Christian religion holds out to us ? It is that ninety- 
nine-hundredths of the millions of billions of human 
beings that have existed on the earth, are irrevocably 
doomed through an endless eternity, to suffer the tor- 
ments of an excruciating, burning hell. The most 
ultra-Infidel unbelief is a thousand times preferable 



8 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

to this horrible doctrine; and if belief could possibly 
change it at all, commend us forever to a long, quiet 
sleep, rather than burning and writhing in a terrible 
hell. The hell-believers seem to think that the tor- 
tii/es of that horrible place are not destined for thtm, 
but for their cursed neighbors, and especially for the 
Infidels. But the belief that one millionth part, only, 
of the human race are to suffer forever in hell, is in- 
comparably worse than the most ultra form of skep- 
ticism or Infidelity. In this respect the Christian re- 
ligion is the most direful, the most abhorrent, of any 
religion upon the face of the globe. This belief in 
eternal damnation, endless misery, and ceaseless tor- 
ture for any portion of the human family is most ex- 
ecrable, and makes God a cruel monster — an infinite 

fiend. 
Mr. Snode has the gentlemanly (?) bearing to speak 

of Infidels as a ** herd of men who can see more beau- 
ty in the Koran than in the Bible," and that it contains 
less novelty, and that its important parts are borrow 
ed from the Bible. This is not correct. Herd is not 
just the word to apply to men, it is more apppropriate 
for cattle, sheep and hogs. It is particularly inappli- 
cable to InfiJels, as they are somewhat scattered over 
the country, and are hardly numerous enough yet 
anywhere to get together in herds. As to the 
Koran being copied from the Bible, it is possible it 
may be to some extent, as it was written a long time 
after, but that seems a singular reason why a Christian 
should condemn it. We are no special champion or 
admirer of the Koran. We believe it to be entirely 
a human production, as all other books are, and con- 
sequently possesses excellencies and imperfections, as 
nearly all others do. As a ** copy " it is far less so 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 9 

than many parts of the Christian Bible. A large 
portion of this, is essentially borrowed from the litera- 
ture of nations older than the Jews, as can be easily 
shown. 

If success is a proof of excellence and truth, the 
Mahometan religion is superior and more under di. 
vine patronage than the Christian. Although some 
five or six hundred years its junior, it has outstripped 
the elder, more adherents having flock ed to the cres- 
cent than have gathered to the cross ; and to-day there 
are one hundred million believers in Mahomet in 
countries that were once Christian, but where a Chris- 
tian is now scarcely to be found, except such few as 
occasionally pass through. In civilization, enterprise 
and wealth, which are not dependent upon religion, 
the Mahometans are in the background, but in morali- 
ty and good conduct they are ahead. There is less 
murder, less stealing, and less crime of all kinds in 
Mahometan than in Christian countries. 

If, however, the Koran has less " novelty " than the 
Bible, it also has less of cruelty, slaughter, carnage 
and bloodshed. In morality, likewise, it is eminent- 
ly above it. We cannot take the room here to draw 
comparisons, or point out one case in a hundred where 
the morality of the Bible is below the Koran, but will 
cite one chapter, only, which will answer our present 
purpose. It is the thirty-first chapter of Numbers, 
where is narrated how Moses, who acted under the 
direct command of God, sent out 12,000 brigands and 
murderers to despoil and destroy a peaceful, quiet na- 
tion, the Midianites, and how they put all the men to 
death, captured women and children, together with all 
their property, consisting in part of 675,000 sheep, 
72.000 beef cattle. 61.000 asses and several hundred 



10 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODB. 

shekels ot gold, besides jewels and other valuables. 
These the holy robbers (for they were no better,) took 
to their camp, but the meek man (Moses) becarne very 
angry with the officers and captains of the hosts and 
said: ** Have you saved all the women alive?" " Kill 
every male among the little ones, and every woman 
that hath known a man by lying with him, but all the 
women and children that have not known a man by 
lying with him, keep for yourselves. ^* In pursuance to 
these orders, 32,000 virgins, consisting of children, 
half -grown girls and young wo»ien, were divided out 
pro-rata among the officers and soldiers of the differ- 
ent tribes, to be the helpless victims of their animal 
lusts, and fifty to seventy-five thousands of defense- 
less women, mothers, children, babes and suckling 
infants were fiendishly put to death in cold blood for 
committing no oflense at all ; and all this by the 
command of God. There is nothing like this to be 
found in the Koran, nor in an}^ of the Bibles of the 
pagan nations in the world. Nay, take all the cruel- 
ty, bloodshed and assassinations recounted in all the 
other bibles that were ever written, (and there have 
been many of them,) add them all together in one 
aggregate, and so much horror and extreme cruelty 
cannot be found, as is narrated in this one chapter. 

We will say more ; among all the tyrants, despots 
and murderers that have lived in any part of the 
world, whether savage, barbarous or civilized, includ- 
ing all the Neros, Caligulas and Dracos that ever liv- 
e J, not one of them, nor all of them, in their maddest 
freaks of cruelty, malice and devilish hate, have ever 
equaled the horri. I recitals of this one chapter. Mr. 
Snode wishes to compare the morality of the Bible 
with the Koran ; if he is pleased with this aspect of 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 11 

his idol, we have nothing to say, only that he has a 
very singular appreciation of goodness and morality. 

He also introduces the subject of obscenity. This 
is a point in which his adored book is so vulnerable it 
would seem better for him not to mention the sub- 
ject. Why, the Christian Bible is one of the most ob- 
scene books in the world; and those which are no more 
so, are prohibited by law, and men are sentenced to 
imprisonment at hard labor, from five to fifteen years 
for selling them ! Why, George Francis Train within 
the last thirty months was imprisoned in the foul and 
noisome *' Tombs," of this city, till his life and 
health were seriously endangered, for simply publish- 
ing some quotations from the Bible, without a word of 
comment. We could call attention to a thousand ob- 
scene and impure passages of the Bible, but lest the 
pious *'Comstock" get after us, and to spare time 
and room we will pass them by for the present. We 
are, however, free to say that in all the other bibles, 
and we may add, also, all the other books of the 
world, (except the small number of obscene books al- 
luded to,) not a tenth part of the obscenity can be 
found, that exists in the Bible of the Christians ;— a 
pretty source, indeed, from which to look for morality 
and purity. 

Mr. Snode, in his flings at Infidels, refers to France 
and the French Revolution, to show how much infe- 
rior are Infidels to Christians. The allusion is not a 
happy one for him. The facts in the case are very 
damaging to the Christians. True, in the French 
Revolution there was a great rebound from the politi- 
cal and religious tyranny under which the people had 
been groaning for centuries, and it is only natural that, 
under such conditions, as in many similar ones in 



12 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

changes ol* governments and dynasties, excesses and 
wrongs should be committed; thus, during ten years 
known as the French Revolution, not exceeding four 
thousand executions of criminals and political ofiend- 
ers took place, all together. 

Admitting, to please Mr. Snode, that Infideis were 
responsible for all this, (which is by no means true, as 
a large share of these executions took place under the 
avowal of the existence of a God, ) how does it com- 
pare with Christian rule ? We will, for instance, take 
a single day, or rather a single night, of Christian 
work in the same France, when, by pre-concerted ar- 
rangement, and by the direction of priests, over fort}- 
thousand men, women and children were assassinated 
and cruelly put to death, not for political offenses, but 
for opinion's sake; and this wholesale, bloody massa- 
cre in the metropolis was followed up in the provin- 
ces in the three following days by a slaughter of 
twenty thousand unfortunate mortals, making sixty 
thousand lives taken by Christians in the kingdom. 
A more cruel, infamous and bloody piece of business 
was never known; and when the intelligence reached 
the ears of the Pope— the head of the Christian 
Church — he was greatly rejoiced at it, and ordered 
Te Deums to be chanted in honor/of the. good work 
thus performed. If the executions of the ten years 
named, reached but four thousand, they make but a 
small show compared with the sixty thousand, in 
round numbers, which Christians so basely and fiend- 
ishly slaughtered within four days. 

Does Mr. Snode like this picture of Christian France 
better than that of Lifldel France ? In truth, very 
few of the execu4iions during the French Revolution 
are chargeable to Infidelity. They were political, 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 13 

not religious. Infidels have never persecuted their 
fellow men for not believing as they do themselves. 
This business is monopolized almost entirely by Chris- 
tians. 

We cannot undertake to give one case in a thou- 
sand of Christian persecution, or even a minute frac- 
tion of the enormities the Church has committed. It 
would take volumes to contain a brief recital of them 
only. One has but to read the horrible details of the 
bloody work of the ** Holy Inquisition," which exist- 
ed under the immediate control of the Church for five 
hundred years, and under whose infernal tortures, 
hundreds of thousands of innocent people were most 
cruelly mangled and murdered ; of the relentless and 
exterminating persecutions for years visited upon the 
unhappy Albigenses and Waldenses, by which scores 
of thousands of men, women and children were tor- 
tured out of the world under the most cruel and dam- 
nable circumstances; of the wars of the Crusades, by 
which a great effort was made to exterminate Infidels 
and unbelievers, and by which millions of all ages, 
sexes and classes were sent to bloody graves by those 
emissaries of the Church. We say one has but to 
read these historical facts to be entirely convinced 
that in all the world there has been no such bloody 
persecutions — such continued and relentless slaughter 
as the Christians have been guilty of. All the religions 
the earth has been cursed with, falls in this respect, 
far behind the Christian religion. Pagans and heath- 
ens cannot compare with them for cruelty, persecu- 
tions and horrors. 

Mr. Snode's enquiries as to what good Freethought, 
Free Speech and a Free Press have done in the world, 
are too insipid and senseless to even merit an answer. 



14 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE 8N0DE. 

What have these agencies done ? Why, they have 
broken down and destroyed just the state of things 
we have here described. But for the existence of 
Freethought, Liberal Sentiments and a Free Press, 
the wo;'ld to-day would be groaning under the same 
relentless tyranny, the same murderous persecutions, 
the same mental slavery and degradation which ex- 
isted in the Dark Ages, when Christianity had entire 
control. A moiety of Liberalism infused into Chris- 
tianity made Protestantism; a little more brought out 
Quakerism ; a little more produced Unitarianism and 
Universalism ; another degree leads Spiritualism, and 
when all superstition is discarded. Liberalism is pure 
and adulterated — a state of belief as much superior to 
the bloody and darkening creeds and practices of 
Christianity, as the glorious sun of day is superior to 
a common ** tallow dip." 

Mr. S. talks flippantly about "filthy gutters," 
'* stagnant pools," *' filthy back alleys," **dark dun- 
geons," "damp cellars," and all that sort of thing, 
but we have no taste in that direction, and will leave 
him in that locality with the superstitions and falla- 
cies of a darker age, while we climb the high grounds 
of science and truth, and bask in the glorious sun- 
shine of mental freedom and human progress. 



[From. The Teuth Seezke of March 15, 1875.] 

George Snode Again Heard From. 

This gentleman has favored us with eight pages o^ 
foolscap manuscript in reply to our remarks in an- 
swer to his former letter in No. 12. He failed to pay 
full postage on his document, and we had the oppor- 



DISCUSSION WITH OEORQB SNODB. 15 

tunity of advancing six cents upon it, and we ai» 
quite sure we paid its full value. It is such a mass of 
cant, twaddle, bad grammar and insolence, that we 
cannot spare the room for it, believing we can give 
our readers matter they will appreciate more highly. 
In the few quotations and remarks we have to make, 
we shall endeavor to do Mr. Snode no injustice. 

First. Mr. Snode takes us to task for calling the 
Catholics Christians, and says : '* Catholicism is a 
mixture of Judaism, Paganism and Christianity." 
That the Catholic Church took much from the Jews 
and the pagans we will not deny— in fact, its theology 
is mainly made up from the latter source ; but it is, 
nevertheless, the Christian Church ; and our friend is. 
narrow in his views and sense of fairness to deprive 
them of this honor, if such it be. Protestantism got 
all its Christianity— its whole stock in trade — from 
the Catholic Church. When Luther and his com- 
peers protested against the Pope and the Church of 
Home, it wias not against the dogmas or doctrines of 
the Church, but simply against the power and gov- 
ernment of the Pope ; in short, he wished to be Pope 
himself. Every dogma, every superstition, and every 
sacrament was retained — the same trinity, the same 
Virgin Mary, the same Redeemer, the same Cross, 
the same Sunday, the same Devil, the same Hell. 
The Protestants obtained everything they have, in the 
way of creedj from the Catholics, save such modifica- 
' tions as they have presumed to make, and are as 
, legitimately children of the Catholic Church, as the 
latter is the direct offspring of Judaism and Paganism. 

Second. ^Mr. Snode says, ** Christians never perse- 
! cute," and wishes to evade the odium of the extensive 
fpersecutions perpetrated by the Catholics upon the 



16 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

ground that they, the Catholics, were not Christians. 
This is very cool. He, of course, thinks Protestants 
are Christians. Have they never persecuted? When 
Luther denounced Copernicus as Q.fool because he de- 
clared the earth was round and revolved upon its own 
axis; when John Calvin burned Michael Servetus at 
the stake with a slow fire, because he held there was 
but one God, was not that persecution? Was he not a 
Christian when he transferred to writing those mem- 
orable words: ''Whoever shall contend that it is un- 
just to put heretics and blasphemers to death, willingly 
and knowingly incurs their very guilt "? Was not the 
meek reformer, Melancthon, a Christian when he 
approved Calvin's burning Servetus to death, and 
declared that his body should have been chopped to 
pieces and his bowels torn out! Was not Munzer, 
a disciple of Luther, a Christian, when at the head of 
some forty thousand turbulent fanatics he ravaged the 
whole country and scattered devastation and destruc 
tion? Were not the Protestants of the Established 
Church Christians, when they persecuted to death 
in England, Scotland and Ireland, not only Catholics, 
but Covenanters, Dissenters and Quakers? Did not 
Claverhouse act under the orders of the bishops and 
priests of a Protestant and Christian Church when he 
roved around the coun^try with a band of marauders 
and cut-throats, killing and slaughtering indiscrimin- 
ately such persons as dared think for themselves and 
dissent from the Established Church? Were not the 
Puritans of New England Christians, when they tor- 
tured and put to death in various ways unbelievers, 
Quakers and the hapless mortals they claimed were 
bewitched? We have seen the tree on Boston Com- 
mon on which a woman was hung by Puritans 



DISCUSSION WITH GEOKGE SNODE. 17 

for being a Quaker. Were not these Protestant Puri- 
tans Christians? If they were not, will Mr. Snode 
inform us where to find them? Will he still tell us, 
** Christians do not persecute"? Verily, the Prot- 
estants, in proportion to the power they have had, 
have shown the same intolerance, the same cruelty, 
the same bloodthirstiness, the same disposition tc 
persecute skeptics and unbelievers that Catholics 
have ever shown. They are the legitimate children 
of a sanguinary, remorseless, blood-thirsty parent. 

Third. Mr. Snode says: *'I am astonished at your 
ignorance, or your entire lack of honesty in your quo- 
tations from the Bible and from history." With such 
an amount of astonishment, and upon making such a 
charge against us, he ought to be able to point out 
wherein we have been so ignorant and so dishonest, 
which he could easily do if we were guilty, but he 
fails to mention a single instance, and we are left to con- 
clude it is he that is dishonest, and that his dishonesty 
is only equaled by his insolence. What right has a 
man to charge another with misquoting and dishon- 
esty, and not point out the paragraph and passage 
where the misquotation occurs? We insist that we 
quoted correctly, and that he has accused us falsely. 

Fourth. Mr. Snode attempts to apologize for the 
cruelty of God, or Moses, in slaying all the Midianites, 
men, women and children, save the virgins (who were 
kept for the use of the soldiers,) upon the ground of 
their wickedness. We can, perhaps, understand the 
beauty of this justice by examining for a moment the 
nature of this Midianitish wickedness When ' 'Israel 
abode in Shittim the people began to commit whore- 
dom with the daughters of Moab, and they called the 
people unto the sacrifice of their gods, and the people 



18 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODB. 

did eat and bowed down to their gods." (Num. xxv. 
1,2.) This was the offense, and it certainly seems the 
Israelitish men were equally to blame with the Mid- 
ianitish women. The women could not very well 
force the men to commit crime with them against 
their will. If it was just that the women and the 
whole nation of Midianites should be put to death, 
ought not the men of Israel to have been punished al- 
so? Were the women wholly guilty and the men 
wholly innocent? How much better was it for thir- 
ty-two thousand ^Midianitish virgins to be d'vided 
among the Israelites for their base uses? The justice 
of Phineas the priest was more equal, to say the least, 
when he rose, and with a javelin run through the 
bodies, killing instantly, the Israelite man, Zimri, and 
the Midianite woman, Cozbi, who had been acting as 
man and wife together. In this case the same severe 
punishment meted to the woman was, extended to 
the man ; but in God's dealings with the two nations, 
though the Israelitish men were equally as guilty as the 
Midianitish women, the latter nation were all cruelly 
put to death, except the young girls who were reserv- 
ed for a worse fate, while not one of the former na- 
tion was hurt at all. If Mr. Snode thinks this is a 
fine specimen of Divine justice, he is welcome to all 
of it and we will go without. 

Fifth. Our friend labors hard to make out that Infi- 
dels would persecute just as badly as Christians if 
they only were numerous enough and had the neces- 
sary power. As such a thing has not occurred yet, it 
is hardly worth while for him to borrow trouble about 
it. He reminds us, somewhat, of the silly girl who 
stood before a heated oven and burst out with a " boo 
ooh,'* and said, ''if 1 was to get married, and if I 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 19 

ehould have a little baby, and if that little baby should 
fall into this oven and be burned to death how bad I 
should feel; boo hoo hoo.'* 

Mr. Snode tries to make Infidels and skeptics re- 
sponsible for the deaths of Socrates and Jesus Christ, 
as well as the persecutions of the early Christians. 
We object to shouldering this responsibility. Socra- 
tes, the Grecian philosopher, was put to death by 
religionists who believed in gods and dogmas that 
he could not accept, and he died like a brave, noble 
man. 

As to Jesus Christ, there is great doubt whether 
such a person ever had an existence. If he had, we 
will be glad if Mr. Snode will demonstrate it to us. 
If he did live and was put to death it was done at the 
instance of God's ** peculiar people;" and as it was in 
the divine programme that he should thus be sacrific- 
ed that a small percentage of the human family might 
gain the favor of heaven and escape the torments of 
hell, then there was certainly great virtue in thus car- 
rying out heaven's grand plan of salvation and putting 
the young god to death. Mr. Snode does wrong to 
deprive the Jews of this honor, and at the same time 
make false accusations against Infidels. As to the 
early Christians, their history is extremely mythical. 
About the first reliable accounts we have of persecu- 
tions connected with Christianity was after Constan- 
tine became the first Christian Emperor. He caused 
to be put to death his own father-in-law, his brother- 
in-law, his nephew, his wife, his eldest son, and by 
his edicts and armies he caused human blood to run 
like a river. It was this man who, like St. Paul, saw 
a vision in the heavens and was instantly converted; 
but he was the first man of mark in the Christian 



20 DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODE. 

Church, and one of the worst and bloodiest tyrants 
that ever lived. 

No, Mr. Snodc, we accept none of the honors of 
persecuting Christians, for we have never done it. 
Persecuting for opinion's sake is almost entirely a 
Christian characteristic, to which Infidels lay no 
claim whatever. 

Sixth. Our correspondent refers again to the times 
of the French Revolution ; in fact, it seems to be a 
favorite theme with him, as he fancies he thereby 
proves that Infidels have persecuted. He seems to be 
unable to comprehend, or not honest enough to ad- 
mit the fact, that the miseries and troubles of those 
tjmes were of a political character, and not religious; 
and grew out of the excesses and wrongs which had 
preceded them. In proof of this, Atheists and Chris- 
tians alike went to the guillotine, not for the sake of 
religious opinions, but political, being, as was sup- 
posed, inimical to political liberty, or to the parties 
then in power. Thomas Paine, one of the greatest 
Infidels of the day, came near being executed, as it 
was decided by the ruling powers that he should be 
beheaded, and he only escaped by an accident. The 
charge against him, as against others, was solely of a 
political character. Not a single person during that 
'* reign of terror," was put to death because he was a 
Christian, or because he was not a Christian, because 
he was an Infidel, or because he was not an In- 
fidel, and Mr. Snode ought to inform himself of the 
fact, and not again make the false accusation, that 
Infidels at that time persecuted because of the relig- 
ious opinions of their opponents. The charge is en- 
tirely devoid of truth, and it is only an ignorant or a 
dishonest man that makes it 



DISCUSSION WITH GEORGE SNODB. 21 

Seventh. Mr. Snode winds up his homily hy expa- 
tiating upon the superior knowledge which a Chris- 
tian possesses over an Infidel as regards his views 
and convictions, and the superior advantage he en- 
joys. We quote him : 

** The Christian first believes and then knows Christian- 
ity to be divine. There is one advantage which the Chris- 
tian has over the skeptic ; theskeptic never can disprove, 
even to his own satisfaction, much less to any other per- 
son's, that the Christian's experience is not what it 
purports to be. The Christian has proven that Chris- 
tianity is true by his own experrence. and the skeptic 
can never, by his experience, prove it to b© false." 
And again, '* We, then, who submit to the government 
and guidance of our Savior, have these advantages over 
the skeptic ; we have reason, true philosophy and experi- 
ence all on our side. We have the promise of the life that 
now is, and of that which is to come. Eich or poor, noble 
or ignoble in the world's reckoning, we can always eat 
our food with gladness, sleep sweetly, and contemplate 
Nature with adoration. The consciousness that we have 
the eye of God always upon us and his arms encircling 
us, is worth more than all the promises of all the Atheists. 
Deists, Skeptics and Freethinkers upon earth. On their 
philosophy, we have nothing to fear. We are happier 
while we live— if Christians— inconceivably happier, and. 
on their theory, cannot fail to be as happy after death. 
But on our principles they can promise themselves only 
the happiness of a stall-fed ox here, and everlasting de- 
struction hereafter. This is a fair contrast of the two 
systems. We have the present and the future ; they have 
the present only in part, and nothing in future but utter 
darkness and everlasting night. If immortality be worth 
anything, it is worth everything which imagination can 
grasp. This is V^e hoot between the two systems— animal 
gratification and death— Jesus Christ and immortality. 
The Materialist will choose the former, but the rational 
philosopher and the man of common sense will choose 
the latter." 



22 DISCUSSION WITH OEOBGB SKODB. 

All this is simply **bosh and nonsense.'' The 
Christian has no more assurance that his views are 
correct, knows no more about the correctness of his 
experiences, has no more advantages, knows no more 
about the eye of God, or his encircling arms, has no 
better appetite, enjoys his meals no more, sleeps no 
sweeter, has no more claim upon immortality and a 
future existence, than the believers in any other sys- 
tem of religion in the world I It is mere arrogance or 
stupidity that makes Mr. Snode, or any other Chris- 
tian, set up this claim. If there is a God, he is every- 
where, his eye is as much upon the unbeliever as the 
believer, his arm encircles as far around the Infidel as 
the Christian. Nature looks as beautiful to the one 
as the other, and the rays of the sun and the gentle 
rains fall upon him just as pleasantly. 

The Christian has no exclusive or patent right upon 
God nor a future existence. If there is a God, he is 
just as near to us as to him ; if there is a future ex- 
istence, we shall be there and enjoy it just as much as 
the most arrogant Christian. Belief nor unbelief in a 
future state neither causes nor prevent its existence, 
neither is it an invention of the Christian nor his 
Christ. If it is the birthright of one human being, it 
is of the entire race, and no priest nor bigot can de- 
prive us of it. Neither can they send us to everlast- 
ing night nor to the flames of a sulphureous hell. These 
are but the figments of a diseased imagination, and 
have no terrors for a truly sensible man. The same 
Deity that presides over this state of existence, pre- 
sides over that. He is ever the same, and burns and 
torments no more there, than he does here. All will 
be the recipients alike of his favors there, the same as 
here. 



DISCUSSION WITH OEORGB 8N0DB. 28 

Christians are welcome to the proprietorship of the 
Devil and his hell. They were invented by priests to 
frighten ignorant, silly people into their support, and 
never came from the Deity that presides over the Uni- 
verse. It is an infernal belief, and detracts from the 
happiness of all who harbor it; therefore. Christians 
are less happy, have less real love of God, less sympa- 
thy for their fellow- men than Infidels. The Christian 
has nothing that is good, nothing that is desirable, 
that we have not equally as large a share in, while we 
are freed from the fear of the Devil, the burnings of 
hell, the harassing doubts and the constant uncertain- 
ties which he must inevitably feel if he believes what 
he pretends to. We yield to him entire ownership in 
his Satanic Majesty and his brimstone hell. They are 
his principal stock in trade and occupy a large share 
of his thoughts. We relinquish them with all the 
grace in the world, having no use for them, either 
here or hereafter. Mr. Snode, good bye. 



The Truth Seeker Tracts. 

If you want terse, trenchant reading matter, to act as 
" Eye-openers," in doing " Missionary Work," convenient 
to hand to neighbors, friends and all enquiring persons, 
send for a supply of these valuable little evangels of 
truth. 

They range in price from one to ten cents each. A lib- 
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They are so low in price, that thousands of generous- 
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distribution. Too many of them cannot be spread broad- 
east over our land. Sent, post-paid, by mail. 

Published by D. M. BENNETT. 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 21. 



Honest Questions and Honest 
Answers. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



[The following appeare.l in the The Teuth Seekeb of 
June 15, 1875.] 



The following interrogatories were sent us by a 
friend in quest of truth and they are entitled to our 
respectful consideration. "We claim to know no 
more of ' ' the unknowable " than common mortals, 
but we will cheerfully answer these questions accord- 
ing to the best light we have. 

Mb. Editoe :— Having read a f^ble i*^icles in your paper 
with regard to the conflict between Orthodox Christianity 
aad Naturalism, I would like to ask a few Questions 
suggested thereby. 

^1. Do you not think that a universal disbelief in the 
l^ible and its sacred teachings, will eventually lead to the 
universal demoralization of the human race ? 

2. Do you believe in a great first cause, the author of na- 
ture and yet its superior, whose character and attributes 
a?;o infinite and eternal ? 



2 HONEST 9,TJESTI0NS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

3. If there Is no God but nature, in what part of ma- 
terial creation shall we look for intelligence ? 

4. Do you not think it more reasonable and truthful to 
suppose that the inferior races of men are evidence of 
the result of degeneracy, rather than of natural develop* 
ment from a still inferior race ? 

6. How can an inferior animal produce its superior on 
strictly natural principles ? 

6. If the laws of nature are fixed, who can turn them 
aside ? 

7. If plants grew into animals, and animals into human 
beings, in the long ago, why is it not so now? 

8. Do you believe in the infinite progression and de- 
velopment of good and evil ? 

9. Will the present ungodly state of society eventually 
result in the reformation and happiness of the human 
race, independent of divine agency ? 

10. Does it not require more faith to be a sceptic than to 
be a Christian ? 

11. Is it easier to believe in nature than in God ? 

12. Do you know everything that you believe ? 

13. Please give us the name and articles of your faith, 
and oblige A Tbuth Seeker. 

Reply. — We confess to a partiality for the pseudo- 
nym our correspondent uses ; and, without stopping 
to enquire whether his interrogatories might not be 
better stated, we proceed to reply to his questions. 

ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

1. This we must answer in the negative, ^e do 
not think a general disbelief in the inspired character 
of the Bible will Laa to universal demoralizatioL of 
the human race. We believe the Bible to be a humm 
production, in every sense of the word, the same is 
every other book that has been written or printed, ii» 
eluding the ancient Puranas and Vedas of Indi, 
the Shaster of Persia, the Pymander of Egypt, tie 
Koran of Arabia, and the book of Morman of oir 
own country. If this is true^ we think not the sliglt- 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 3 

est injury will result from its being universally ac- 
cepted. Truth will not produce demoralization, lo- 
cally nor generally. 

Id point of language, correct composition, fine sen- 
timent, beautiful imagery, or pure morality we fail to 
see that the Bible Is at all superior to very many other 
books which men have written, while we find much 
in it that is crude, coarse, indecent, absurd, Extrava- 
gant, improbable and impossible. In short, we can- 
not find a passage in the whole book that a man of 
fair intelligence could not easily write, and that has 
not been equaled many times and very often surpassed. 

It seems to be a compilation of writings, differing 
widely in character, by different persons, written in 
very different eras, and with different objects and 
motives. It may have been well designed for the 
wants of mankind in the ages in which it was writ- 
ten, but it appears very imperfectly fitted to our time 
and the present intellectual condition of the world. 

There is very little authority for asserting it to be 
the "word of God." Yery few of the writers of the 
book claimed they wrote at the command of God, or 
or that they even were inspired. And the parts of 
the Bible which are more especially pronounced in- 
spired, among which may be named the Prophecies 
and the Book of Revelations, are more unmeaning, 
more incoherent, more unreliable and more like the 
ravings of a lunatic than the other parts. No one 
can reasonably claim it is necessary for a person to be 
inspired to write a historical account of the genera- 
tions of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the incidents, 
adventures, successions of kings, wars, battles and re- 
prisals of the Jews, any more than of the Persians, 
the Greeks, the Romans, the Britons or the roving. 



4 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

barbarous hordes of the north of Europe, called 
** Goths and Vandals." If it is not necessary for a 
historian of the Gauls or the Russians to be inspired, 
why any more a historian of the Jews ? 

It also would appear no more necessary for a biog- 
rapher of Jesus to be inspired in relating the inci- 
dents of his life and the events connected with it, than 
of Mahomet, Alexander, George Fox or Joseph 
Smith. Why is it any more probable that Matthew 
and Luke were inspired to write the life of Jesus than 
Strauss, Renan, Scott, Beardsley, Henry Ward Beech- 
er and scores of others who have essayed to write his 
life, and all upon very insufficient data ? 

When a man has written a book or a pamphlet, and 
says at the beginning or end that God inspired him to 
write it, we have perfect liberty to believe him or 
disbelieve him according to the evidence presented to 
our minds ; but when books are presented to us whose 
authors' names even, are unknown to us, are not given 
in the books, whom nobody has any means of know- 
ing, and which make no claim to being inspired by 
the Creator of the worlds, we cannot understand 
how any man, or any number of men, priests or lay- 
men have the authority to declare to us we must be- 
lieve it is absolutely the word of God, or be damned 
forever. Until we meet a person who has better 
facilities for knowing the origin of the books of the 
Bible than ourselves, and has superior authority to en- 
force his opinions upon our minds, we shall continue 
to exercise our own best judgment upon this, the 
same as all other subjects. 

We are aware many people believe the Bible has 
wielded a moral influence in the world vastly superior 
to that of any other book. We are compelled to dissent 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 5 

from this view. We find not in the book any bet- 
ter nor purer morals than are found in other books, 
nor do we discover that the nations and peoples who 
have accepted it as the word of God, have lived more 
morally or peacefully than those who did not so ac- 
cept it. The reverse is the truth. In the first place, 
the greater portion of the morals of the Bible are of 
a very questionable character. It treats largely of 
carnage, bloodshed, unjust wars and oppressions 
which the God of the Jews ^nd the Christians often 
incited, and in which he fondly participated ; and 
aside from the foul books which the police authorities 
of our country, under the class obscene literature, pre- 
vent from being circulated or sold, there is no book to- 
day in the English language which contains so much 
that is indecent and unfit for the rising generation to 
read, or which is so much an apology and authority 
for incest, bigamy, polygamy and excessive sexual in- 
tercourse as the Holy Bible, In these regards the 
Puranas, the Yedas, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Shas- 
ter, the Koran, the Talmud and thousands of other 
books are superior to it. 

As an illustration 6i the immoral character of the 
Bible, we have only to state the case of George Fran- 
cis Train, who was imprisoned six months in a damp, 
gloomy, noisome prison in this city, called the Tombs, 
for no other off'ense than publishing a few quotations, 
without a word of comment, from that book. What 
other book is there in existence, which is recognized 
by decent people, for quoting which a man in this 
nineteenth century would be confined six months in a 
foul, unhealthy prison, to the great injury to health,, 
comfort and business ? 

Were a book to-day, introduced to the people of this 



6 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

country, containing all the indecencies, all the extrav- 
agance, all the contradictions and all the imperfec- 
tions of the Bible, and no claim were set up that it 
was inspired oy God-given, it would not be tolerated 
among decent people, and would be unceremoniously 
tabooed from all cultured society. 

It is a "\|^ell-known truth that the nations who 
have accepted the Bible as the word of God, have 
been vastly more murderous, bloodthirsty, warlike, 
oppressive, unjust and otherwise immoral than many 
other nations who were not governed by it at all, 
and that there are many nations now in existence 
who know nothing of the Bible, who, in point ol 
morality, sobriety and honesty are far ahead of na- 
tions who acknowledge it as their guide. Volumes 
of proof can be given to sustain these propositions. 

The Bible is, by its adorers, converted into an idol. 
They fall down before it, look up to it, worship it and 
revere it for imaginary excellences it does not possess, 
as is nearly always the case in idol- worship. It is 
also used as an engine by priests to elevate themselves 
into power, and is by them wielded like a sceptre over 
the heads of the people in the way to perpetuate their 
own authority and to cause the people to be subservient 
to them. Everything they demand or command is 
with a ** thus saith the Lord^ 

We do not say there is no good in the Bible, that it 
contains no beautiful language, no elevated sentiments; 
on the contrary, we cheerfully admit it does, but we do 
assert it contains nothing truer, nothing better^ nothing 
more beautiful than is found in other books which lay 
no claim to having God as author. The Bible having 
been written by persons who knew little or nothing of 
the truths and discoveries of modern science, philos- 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 7 

opby and art, it almost necessarily teaches much that 
is untrue, much that is worthless, and much that is 
pernicious. 

The claim so persistently urged by Bible-id olators, 
that the sacred book of the Jewish nation has been 
the grand cause of the civilization of modern times, 
is absurd and unjust. Theological ideas doubtless 
have had much to do in moulding the character of 
civilization, but to it only rightfully belongs a fraction- 
al part. Natural and physical causes have much to do 
in determining the civilization of any portion of the 
earth's surface. The soil has very much to do with 
civilization. When this is rich and encourages 
agriculture, civilization advances rapidly, bringing 
in wealth, literature and refinepaent. In sterile or 
barren countries, where the inhabitants are compelled 
to pursue a wandering, nomadic life, and cities are 
very sparse, barbarism long holds sway, and civiliza- 
tion advances slowly. The civilization of mountain- 
ous regions differs from that of level countries, and 
the inhabitants show marked differences in habits and 
characteristics. Climate has also much to do with 
civilization. The temperate zones are far more favor- 
able for adv^ced civilization and an enlightened intel- 
lect than the torrid or the frigid zones. Every belt of 
the earth's surface exerts a varied influence in the pro- 
cess of mental advancement. 

Prof. Draper, in his incomparable work, ** The His- 
tory of the Intellectual Development of Europe," 
gives us much light upon this subject. In speaking 
of the basic causes of civilization, he says, it *' de- 
pends upon climate and agriculture," and teaches that 
the metereological condition of different countries has 
much to do with intellectual advancement. Very 



b HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

rainy countries are unfavorable to the most rapid men- 
tal progress, and he argues that the rainless condition 
of Egypt had greatly to do in the early civilization of 
that country. He shows that the gulf stream had 
much to do in determining the civilization of Europe. 
Buckle, in his *' History of Civilization in Eng- 
land/' corroborates much that Draper teaches, and ac- 
cords to literature and knowledge prominent places in 
the causes of civilization. The purer the literature of 
a country, and the more unmixed it is with myths, 
superstition, legends, fallacies and absurdities, the 
more rapid is the advance in civilization. These are 
the characteristics in the Bible which have retarded 
civilization and for centuries kept a mistaken theology 
in the front, when, of course, a rational mentality 
was forced into the back-ground. It is doubtless 
true, the Bible has retarded civilization on the earth, 
and had it had no existence, mankind to-day would be 
farther progressed in intelligence, happiness, civiliza- 
tion and truth than they now are. 

Believing all this to be indisputable, we have no ap- 
prehensions of any bad eflects that will arise from the 
Bible being substituted in the world by rational truth, 
knowledge, science, benevolence, morality and purity 
vastly superior to that which it contains. 

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE. 

2. We have also to answer this interrogatory in the 
negative. The subject is beyond the reach of man's 
vision, and probably we will never fully know the 
character of the moving, controlling forces of the 
Universe. We can only come to such conclusions as 
our best reason points out. We believe strongly in 
the Universe, in its infinity, Its immensity and its 
eternity ; but we do not believe it had an inventor. 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 9 

author or creator. It contains and comprises all the 
material, all the forces and powers that exist, and out- 
side of it there is aothing. It is itself the cause of all 
results and all existences. As we find it is utterly 
impossible to create one atom of matter from nothing, 
or to reduce one atom to a state of non-existence, we 
can have a fair idea of the eternity of the entire Uni- 
verse, and the absurdity of the supposition that it was 
a few thousand years ago, by a power outside of it- 
self made from nothing. 

The earth — the solar system — the entire Universe 
may once have been in a nebular state — a gaseous con- 
dition — so rare and attenuated that our atmosphere 
may be regarded as solid compared with it ; so rare 
indeed that several cubic miles would hardly contain 
a single grain of solid matter. We say, the Universe 
may have evolved from this condition by gradual 
condensations and aggregations into systems and suns 
and worlds, and thus have existed myriads of ages to 
again resolve into a nebular cod dition. The Universe, 
we assert, may have repeated this process millions of 
times, but it never had a beginning; it never was made. 
There never was a time when it did not exist, nor 
will there ever be a time when it will cease to exist. 
It has no supporter and needs none. It is permeated 
by all the forces that have an existence, and these 
are a part of it. The Universe is composed of matter 
and all the powers that pertain to it. Tyndall had 
I tnis fact in view when he said, he *' found in matter 
I all the forms and potency of life ; 'V and a more ration- 
al observation was never made. 

The idea of the infinity and eternity of the Uni- 
verse is hard for some minds to comprehend. They 
think anything so vast and boundless as the Universe 



10 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

must necessarily have required a creator. But ask 
them whence came this creator, which must needs 
be superior to the Universe created, and thev will 
answer you at once, ''oh, he always was, he never 
was made." They seem not to realize the logica) 
conclusion, that if the Universe, being so extensive, 
required a creator, that this superior creator himseli 
still more required a creator. In this way we may go 
on imagining creators of creators until bewildered and 
lost. 

It is easy for a common capacity to understand that 
sjpac^ or expanse is necessarily infinite, eternal, limit- 
. less, without beginning or end. No one will argue 
for a moment, that a given amount of space was ever 
madej or that there was ever a time when it was not. 
It requires then but another step to realize that it is 
the same with all space and with all the matter con- 
tained in it, and that it is necessarily infinite and eter- 
nal. 

We assume not to say what God is, or whether 
there is a God ; but of this we feel fully assured, 
that he is totally unlike the being theology has pictured 
to us. The Deity that is, is in the Universe and part 
of it. He exists just as much in the most distant sun 
the mind can imagine in the farthest remove of 
space, whose light traveling at a velocity of 200,000 
miles a second requires trillions of ages to reach our 
globe — as in this solar system, as on this globe or in 
this special portion of it. Hence he cannot be a per- 
son, he cannot be a being, he cannot be an individual, 
he cannot be a local intelligence, he can hardly be a 
general intelligence. It is possible for no man to say 
just what he is. But the fable that he once made man 
from clay; woman from a rib bone ; that an apple 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 11 

cursed the whole world and peoples hell for millions 
of years; that God was born of a young girl; that his 
creatures put him to death to appease his own 
anger, or to satisfy his own sense of justice ; that he 
has his eye constantly upon the 1,500,000,000 of indi- 
viduals that exist on this globe ; that he has the hairs 
of their heads all numbered as well as the quintillions 
of beings who preceded them, and that this is the Deity 
who reigns in, rules and controls countless millions 
of other worlds, is an idea too preposterous to claim 
the credence of a sensible person for a moment. 

It is vastly easier, it strikes us, to conceive of the 
eternaliiy of a self -existent Universe filling the great 
limitless expanse which ever was and ever will be, than 
to believe in a local, personal God in the form of a 
man, with his passions and foibles, whom no one has 
ever seen or known ; who less than six thousand years 
ago, made from nothing all that exists ; who found it 
necessary to employ a few score of ignorant, unrelia- 
ble persons, living at different times and in different 
localities to write a book for him, giving an account 
of himself and declaring his will to his creatures, and 
which book has required a few scores of other persons 
to translate, hundreds of thousands of ignorant priests 
to interpret, explain and expound to the more igno- 
rant multitudes, but in explaining which they have 
never agreed , some asserting with immense authority 
''the meaning is this wayy"* and others with equal 
positiveness declaring it is *' tliat way ;'* but each af- 
firming that unless we take their particular version, 
and acknowledge them as the mouth-pieces and 
agents of God we are doomed to endless torture. 
We are conscious that the Universe exists : we can see 
It, feel it and Icnow it. We are in it, and are parts of 



12 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

it ; we can understand it is eternal and indestructible. 
We can coraprehend that all parts of it are equally 
divine ; but of a creator of this Universe we know 
nothing, except what priests and Bible writers tell us, 
and they know not a particle more about it all than 
we do. 

We acknowledge with profound reverence the great 
source of life, motion, intelligence and individual ex- 
istences. These arise from light, heat, magnetism, 
attraction, chemical affinity and cognate forces yet 
imperfectly understood, but which are inherent in 
the Universe and cannot be separated from it. 

WHERE SHALL WE LOOK FOR INTELLIGENCE ? 

3. Our friend's third question is, **If there is no 
God but Nature, in what part of the material creation 
shall we look for intelligence ?" We answer, in any 
part where we can find organizations and conditions 
that produce intelligence. We know of no intelligence 
that is not the result of organization any more than 
we know of sight without the optic nerves and organs 
of vision, or of hearing without the tympanum and 
organs of the ear, or of muscular strength without the 
muscles and connecting apparatus to produce it. In- 
tellect, thought, or mind, is not a promiscuous sub- 
stance floating through space ; it is not a primitive 
element, a separate entity, independent of the forces 
and materials of the Universe, but is, as we said, the 
result of organization — an outgrowth of matter — a 
motion, so to speak, of an organ and its connected 
nervous system. 

W-e find intellect existing in all grades and degrees, 
from the lowest to the highest form, and in all varie- 
ties as regards quality and quantity, but nowhere 
without a suitable organization to give it existence. 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST i.NSWERS. 13 

In the vegetable kingdom we perceive the lowest 
indications of intellect, though that there is not a 
measure of it in simple substances when brought into 
contact, as in the cases of acids and alkalies, metals 
and oxygen, hydrogen and oxysjen, and an infinite 
number of similar chemical combinations, we will not 
pretend to say. That there is intelligence in the vege- 
table kingdom cannot be doubted. It is indicated in 
the general reaching towards light, as with the potato 
sprout in a dark cellar in the spring of the year. If a 
little sunlight steal through a hole or crevice how the 
delicate shoot reaches towards itf How constantly 
many flowers keep their faces towards the sun. Who 
has not witnessed the tendrils of a vine reaching for 
a limb or cord, or something to cling to and support 
the growing plant ? If there is a support within reach 
it will find it. This appears to be a low order of 
intelligence, but commensurate with the conditions 
calling it forth. 

In the animal kingdom we find varying degrees of 
^intelligence, but always in keeping with organs and 
conditions. An oyster has some intelligence, a fly 
more, an ant more, a honey-bee more, a hog still more, 
a dog still more, a horse still more, an elephant more 
still, and man more than all. He is truly said to be 
an epitome of all animal existences below him, and 
the highest expression of divinity in the Universe. 
In these and numerous other gradations of intellect, 
or mind, the difference arises from the varied organ- 
izations, from the quantity and quality of brain and 
the character of the nervous system, a part of the 
connecting apparatus for producing and conveying 
thought and sensation. 
In man great diversity of intellect exists. If each 



14 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

individuality is a spark from the ^reat central intel- 
lect it would hardly be so ; but when we realize the 
interminable differences in organizations, tjonditions, 
quality and quantity of brain, together with the ever- 
vary^ing character of nervous systems, the reason for 
the great variety of intellects can be partially under- 
stood. 

The production of intellect depends on several 
conditions. In the first place a healthy body is 
most essential. A good brain, a good nervous system, 
a good stomach, a good digestive apparatus, circula- 
tion of good blood, are all indispensable in the pro- 
duction of mind. Proper food, pure air and pure 
water are of the highest importance in this intri- 
cate process, and without them mind cannot exist. 
As the fuel and water are to the engine; as hay and oats 
are to the muscular strength of the horse, so is meat, 
bread and potatoes to the intellect of man. The com- 
bustion of the fuel converts the water into steam, 
whose confined force acting upon the piston causes 
the engine to move rapidly, and convey with it hun- 
dreds of tons in weight. The digestion of the hay and 
oats imparts to the horse muscular strength sufficient to 
move bodies ten times his own weight and what also 
of intellect he possesses. So the meat, bread and pota- 
toes which man eats and assimilates impart to lilm 
the powers and forces he possesses, including the 
intellect or mind. Deprive the engine of fuel, and it 
must stop ; deny the horse his hay and oats and he 
cannot haul heavy loads, he must stop ; deprive man 
of his necessary food and he soon becomes exhausted. 
Starve him and he has no muscular strength and 
equally no mind ; before the spark of life flickers out 
his mind is gone, he is an idiot or a maniac ; he has 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 15 

no intellect. ^ It is well known the labors of the mind 
are as exhaustive as physical labor, and equally neces- 
sitate material food and repose. 

Thus we see food produces mind in the same way 
it produces muscular strength, and that one is the pro- 
duct of matter and organization as really as the other, 
and that we must look for the best intellect where we 
find the best organizations and the best conditions. 

4. Do you think it more reasonable and truthful tx> sup- 
pose that the inferior races of men are evidence of the 
result of degeneracy J rather than of natural development 
from a still inferior race? 

We do not. The law of progression and develop- 
ment we regard as the order of the Universe rather 
than retrogression and degeneracy. It is far from 
complimentary to an infinite, ^11-wise Creator to be- 
lieve his works deteriorate and go backward to igno- 
miny and decay. It is the same with the Universe ; 
its law is progress, onward, forward, not retrogres- 
sion, backwardness and deterioration. True, condi- 
tions have very much to do with the development of 
the human race. It is well known a particular fami- 
ly, tribe or nation may go backward instead of for- 
ward ; they may sink in the scale of humanity instead 
of rising in it, but this is always dependent upon gov- 
erning causes, the effects of which cannot be ignored. 
It is not improbable, even, that nations- and races like 
individuals, may have their eras, their life-time^ begin- 
ning in infancy, progressing through youth to matu- 
rity and old age, but it is evidently a law of the 
Universe that in the aggregate, the human race grad- 
ually progresses in intelligence, morality and in the en- 
joyment of happiness. Ignorance is the great obstacle 
to the more rapid advance, and where this is fully re- 



16 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

moved, and we learn to live naturally, rationally and 
sensibly in all things, according to the immutable laws 
which govern our existence, we may expect mankind 
will occupy a much more elevated position than now; 
be more healthful in body and mind, less troubled 
with diseases and afflictions, live to a greater age, be 
more physically strong, more intellectual, more virtu- 
ous and consequently more happy. 

5. How can an inferior animal prodiice its superior on 
strictly natural principles ? 

It can be done in no other way than up'on natural 
principles ; but that it is done it is hardly necessary 
to affirm. We have only to look at the improvements 
that have been made in the rearing of horses, cattle, 
sheep and swine to be fully convinced of this. The 
difference between the zebra and the wild horses of 
Tartary and South America, and the blooded horses 
which are the pride of Europe and the United States 
is very great. The same is true of cattle, sheep and 
hogs. Our Devonshire, Durham and Alderney cattle, 
reared under favorable conditions are largely in ad- 
vance of the wild cattle of the forests and plains. 
Our Merino and other choice breeds of sheep are a 
great improvement upon the coarse wild sheep of old- 
en times, the same as our Berkshire, China and Po- 
land hogs are a great advance from the wild hogs 
from which they descended. The same law of devel- 
opment and improvement that rules in the animal king- 
dom prevails in the vegetable kingdom. It is wcil 
known the numerous and magnificent varieties of 
apples we now have were produced from the sour 
crab apple, as all our luscious pears, peaches, and 
plums were produced by the appliances of culture, 
art and development, from the bitter, puckery wild 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 17 

pear, the small, sour, wild peach, and the inferior wild 
plum. In a similar manner the hundreds of beauti- 
ful varieties of roses which florists now present us are 
the product of the wild rose, as the multitudinous 
varieties of beautiful asters, balsams, cockscombs, 
dahlias, gladioluses, pansies, petunias, pinks, tulips, 
verbenas, and other lovely flowers, are the products 
of the simple wild flowers from which they are the di- 
rect descendants. 

All these improvements and developments are the 
result of natural laws, which men have learned and 
applied. 

6. If the laws of Nature are fixed, wTio can turn tTiem 
aside? 

No one can change that which is unchangeable, nor 
turn aside that which is immovable. The laws of 
Nature can not be rendered inoperative nor nugatory, 
but they are unlimited in number, and are applicable 
to all conceivable conditions and circumstances. It 
is the proper study of mankind to become acquainted 
with them to the fullest extent, and to learn to apply 
them to all the affairs and necessities of life, and not 
to try to subvert them, oppose them, or live in opposi- 
tion to them. 

7. If 'plants grew into animals, and animals into hu- 
man 'beings f in the long ago, why is it not so now ? 

We cannot say it is not so. These operations take 
place very slowly, and almost imperceptibly, and it is 
not at all unlikely some of them are taking place at 
the present time. The same causes under the same 
conditions will always produce the same results. 
This may be regarded as an axiom as unfailing as 
** twice two are four." 

It is, perhaps, not easy to comprehend how one 



18 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

form of existence evolves into another, and how ani- 
mal life may proceed from vegetable life, but it is 
still more difficult to understand how otherwise so 
many forms of existence came to be. We have come 
to understand the Universe contains all the forces and 
powers necessary to produce every result that has ever 
been accomplished. In the primitive condition of our 
planet, it was doubtless wholly unfitted for either veg- 
etable or animal life. As it gradually conden&ed from 
a nebular condition, it required immense eras for the 
soil to be converted by means of oxygen and other 
influences from the primitive rocks into a condition 
suitable for the production of vegetatior^ including 
grasses, herbs and trees. It is reasonable to suppose 
the first germs of vegetable life were simple ^M crude, 
and that the evolution of the thousands of 9'\cceed- 
ing varieties were a slow ?.nd natural outgrcvth of 
the original ; and without doubt these evoluti ^ns in 
the vegetable kingdom still continue as new vs rieties 
of plants are constantly being discovered. We have 
shown how man has produced new varieties c^ ani- 
mals, fruits and flowers by making use of natura? laws, 
and it is quite as probable nature, by the same laws, 
produces similar results. 

When after the lapse of countless ages, the earth 
became adapted to the existence of animal life, all the 
various varieties did not come into existence at once. 
The simple animalculcB and radiata were doubtless 
the first which nature produced, and these after an 
epoch — the length of which we are unable to judge — 
came the moUusca — shell-fish, then articulata—^ointQd 
insects and animals, next vertehrata^ animals with in- 
ternal skeleton, and divided into reptiles, fishes, birds, 
and mammals. 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS 19 

AVhile the external forms of all these animals are 
SO different, it is no less true that the whole, after all, 
are mere variations of a fundamental germ or princi- 
ple which can be traced as a basis through the whole, 
the variations being merely modifications to suit each 
particular variety that exists. Starting from the prim- 
itive germ, which we have seen, is the representative 
of a particular order of full-grown animals, we find all 
others to be merely advances from that type, with the 
extension of eodowments and modifications of forms 
required in each particular case ; each form, also, re- 
taining a strong affinity to that which precedes it, and 
tending to impress its own features on that which suc- 
ceeds. 

This unity of structure, as it is called, becomes the 
more remarkable when it is remembered that the 
organs, which possessing a resemblance, are often put 
to different uses ; for example, the ribs, become in the 
serpent, organs of locomotion, and the snout is ex- 
tended in the elephant into a prehensile instrument. 
It is equally remarkable that analogous purposes are 
served in different animals by organs essentially diff- 
erent. Thus, the mammalia breathe by lungs ; the 
fishes by gills. These are not modifications of one 
organ, but distinct organs. In mamifers, the gills 
exist and act at an early stage of the foetal state, but 
afterward go back and appear no more ; while the 
lungs are developed. In fishes, again, the gills only 
are fully deyeloped, while the lung structure either 
makes no advance at all, or only appears in the ru- 
dimentary form of an air-bladder. In many instances 
a particular structure is found advanced to a certain 
point in a particular set of animals, (for instance, feet 
in the serpent tribe), although not there required in 



20 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWEKS. 

any degree ; but the peculiarity being carried a little 
farther forward, is perhaps useful in the next set of 
animals in the scale. These are called rudimentary 
organs and are most conspicuous in animals which 
form links between the various classes. 

We cannot take the space here to enumerate the 
many instances of similarity of organs in the different 
varieties of animals ; but in illustration will merely 
state, that as various as may be the lengths of the 
upper part of the vertebrated column (back bone) in 
the mammalia, it always consists of the same parts 
and the same number of boneS: Thus, the girafie 
has in its tall neck the same number of bones as the 
pig, which scarcely seems to have a neck at all. Man 
unlike most of the mammalia has no tail; but the neces- 
sary bones for a caudal appendage exist in an unde- 
veloped state in the os coccygis of the human species. 
The limbs of the vertebrate animals are in like man- 
ner on one plan, however various they may appear. 
In the hind leg of a horse, for example, the angle call- 
ed the hock is the same part which in man forms the 
heel; and the horse and nearly all other quadrupeds 
walk upon what corresponds to the toes of the human 
race. As these parts are, in many quadrupeds 
shrunken or compressed into a hoof, so the tail which 
would otherwise attach to the -human subject is 
shrunken up into a bony mass at the lower extremity 
of the back. The bat, on the other hand, has these 
parts largely developed. The membrane, commonly 
called the wing, is framed chiefly upon bones answer- 
ing precisely to those of the human hand. In the 
paddles of the whale, and other animals of its ordei, 
are found the same bones as in the more highly devel- 
oped extremities of the land animals, and even the 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 21 

sorpcnt tribes which present no external appearance 
of such extremities, possess them in reality, though in 
an undeveloped or rudimental state. 

If it is difficult to comprehend how so many forms of 
life as now exist upon this planeft should have evolved 
from one simple germ or a few simple germs, it is 
certainly more difficult to comprehend that so many 
separate creations should have been necessary. Ac- 
cording to Humboldt and Spencer, there are scattered 
over our globe at the present time some 320,000 species 
of vegetable life, and 2,000,000 species of animal life, 
and if to these are added the numbers of animal and 
vegetable species which have existed, but have now 
become extinct the total number would not fall short 
of ten millions of species. Which is the most proba- 
ble, that these ten millions of species of organized life 
are evolutions and modifications of an original germ or 
germs, or that they were all separate and distinct cre- 
ations ? We decidedly yield our assent to the former 
proposition. , 

If it is not easy to understand that all the forms of 
animal life should have arisen from a single germ, or 
if it is not clear how the animal kingdom could have 
evolved from the vegetable, it certainly is not difficult 
to understand that in the Universe exist, perpetually, 
the powers and forces necessary to produce all that 
now is or ever has existed. As no effect was ever 
produced without a natural cause sufficient to pro- 
duce it, so these natural causes, operating under all 
conceivable conditions, necessarily produce an endless 
variety of results. In the great Universe is inherent 
all the powers and potency requisite to call into exist- 
ence all that is or ever was. 

If it cannot be fully comprehended how vegetables 



32 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

can evolve into animals, it can at least be understood 
that the two kingdoms approach each other so closely 
as scarcely to be separated. There is animal life so 
closely bordering upon the vegetable that at first it 
would appear to be the latter. The hydroosa and the 
sponge family are samples of this class. On the other 
hand, there are vegetables possessing the characteris- 
tics of animals to a wonderful extent ; and as illustra- 
tions we have but to mention the plants recently dis- 
covered both by Professor Darwin in England, and 
Mary Treat in this country, which not only catch an- 
imals, but digest them and appropriate them to their 
sustenance and growth. It is little more wonderful 
that one kingdom should evolve into the other, than 
that each should approach the other so closely and 
partake of the special province of the other to such 
a remarkable extent. 

In connection with this subject, we will call atten 
tion to the fact that nature seems to evolve or adapt 
difierent forms of life to the v»arying circumstances in 
which it is placed. Thus certain kinds of plants 
growing in, and located where rain seldom falls, and 
requiring a store of moisture for their nourishment, 
are found to be provided with a cup-like vessel sur- 
rounding the stalk to retain water after a shower. 
This cup or pitcher^ as it is sometimes called, is not a 
new organ, but simply an evolution or modification of 
a leaf of the plant So fish, having eyes and good 
sight, if kept and propagated in the dark, although 
they retain their eyes, they become entirely useless, 
and the fish are *' stone blind." If, however, they are 
brought into the light, by its magic influence their 
sight, is gradually restored until they see again as well 
as ever. Indeed, we are hardly able to estimate the 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 23 

subtle and mysterious influence this wonderful ele- 
ment — light — exercises in the production of organs of 
vision. It seems to have the power to call forth or- 
gans of sight when needed, while animals who live 
perpetually in the dark have no eyes and no sight. 

8. Do you believe in the infinite progression and devel- 
opment of good and evil ? 

According to our comprehension of this question, 
we answer, Yes. As we believe in the infinite pro- 
gression and development of all material substances, 
we necessarily must believe in the progression of good 
and evil. Here it becomes necessary for us to define 
what we understand by *' good and evil." They are 
simply relative terms. Every thing that exists is sus- 
ceptible of becoming good or evil, according to the 
use that is made of it. There is nothing so good but 
if improperly used it may become an evil, and there is 
in existence nothing so bad but what is positive good 
if properly and legitimately used. Thus, fire, which 
in warming us in cold weather, and in cooking our 
food, is so great a good, when it is out of its proper 
place and burns our dwellings and destroys towns 
and cities, it is an evil of immense magnitude. So, 
water, which in floods, torrents, and devastating 
streams is a great evil, in the imperceptible dew, 
in the gentle rain, in sparkling springs, in mur- 
muring rills, flowing rivers, and the great ocean, 
over which proudly float ships and steamers — in the 
multitudinous ways in which it refreshes thirst and 
sustains life, it is an indispensable good. So it is with 
food, alcohol, clothing, exercise, pleasure, the im- 
pulses, the passions, and every substance and every 
quality in existence — properly and wisely used they are 
all good, but when improperly used they become evil. 



24 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

We believe in no personal good nor personal evil 
constantly warring with each other — no personal God, 
no personal Devil. These myths are the outgrowth 
of ignorance, and are deservedly passing away as the 
light of truth shines upon the world, together with 
the belief in witches, gnomes, fairies, genii, hobgob- 
lins and demons. 

9. Will the present ungodly state of society eventually 
result in in the reformation and happiness of the human 
race independent of Dimne agency f / 

The word divine in this question is somewhat indefi- 
nite. If it means the efforts of a personal deity we 
answer yes ; if it means all that exists, no. Our belief 
is that all that exists is, in its nature good^ and that 
everything belongs to the divine system of the Uni- 
verse. "We believe the moral and social conditions of 
the world will be greatly improved, until the human 
race is vastly healthier, better, and happier than no;v. 
The world has greatly improved within the period 
covered by history, but the advance made is slight 
compared with what we hopefully trust the future 
has in store for us. The race has inherently within 
its nature the elements of unlimited progress, and as 
it succeeds in dispelling the ignorance and supersti- 
tion which pernicious creeds and dogmas for thou- 
sands of years have fastened upon it, it will rise per- 
manently in worth, usefulness and happiness. 

This advance may be slow ; the effects of ignorance 
and defective education in the world are most serious 
and the tendency to selfishness and the indulgence of 
passion is strong in man ; but still we have great 
hopes of him. He may still be considered in his in- 
fancy. Forever is a long time ; and when he gets all 
the knowledge of a scientific propagation of species, 



HONEST QUESTIONS AKD HONEST ANSWERS. 25 

a sensible, healthful rearing of the young, the best 
social system, with all the numerous etceteras of life 
he is capable of acquiring, we trust he will be vastly 
better and happier than now. 

What our friend calls the ' ' ungodly state of society" 
we apprehend is the result of disorder and the want of 
due appreciation of Nature's laws and requirements. 
It has no connection with any invisible personality, 
good or bad. 

As the laws of health and the science of life become 
better understood and applied, disease will be greatly 
banished from the earth. As intelligence and science 
become thoroughly disseminated, ignorance, vice and 
crime will correspondingly lessen. As the human 
race learn that the highest morality consists in doing 
good to their fellow beings, and that this course pro- 
duces the most perfect happiness, so will good deeds 
and kind actions abound, and what is called sin and 
wickedness will become comparatively unfashionable, 
and unknown. 

10. Does it not require more faith to he a skeptic than 
to he a Christian f 

Decidedly not. A skeptic is one who has no faith, 
but doubts everything. A Christian is one who 
believes whatever his priest or creed demands of him, 
regardless of logic, sense or reason. A skeptic 
takes nothing upon triist — nothing because somebody, 
who knows no more than he does, commands him to 
do so. A skeptic and a Kationalist are not necessarily 
the same. A skeptic is simply a doubter, while a 
Ration alist is one who embraces the truths of the 
Universe, the teachings of science and reason so far 
as he understands them. He is only skeptical upon 
such subjects of which he is ignorant and does not 



26 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

accept as truth that which lacks the confirmatioD of 
experience and demonstration. 

11, Is it easier to believe in nature than in God? 

We answer, yes, if reason is followed and myths 
and superstitions are discarded ; though were we to 
judge by the numbers of the human race who believe 
In some kind of a God, we might think to the con- 
trary. In the last five thousand years not less than 
fifty thousand gods have been manufactured by men, 
and these have been believed in by countless millions 
of our race. Where ignorance has most prevailed, 
there has the belief in a god or gods most abounded. 
Many volumes would be necessary to recount the 
great diversity of characteristics and monstrosities 
these ignorant human beings have ascribed to their 
gods. The more ignorant and degraded they were, 
the more crude and depraved their gods. The more 
warlike and blood-thirsty the nations who have made 
these gods, the more fond their gods were of bloodshed 
and carnage, and they have even been called *Hhe 
god of battles." Bloodshed, slaughter and destruc- 
tion of life seemed their highest pleasure. The Jews 
and their God, Jehovah, is a case in point. The more 
peaceful and inoflensive the nation, the more quiet 
and undemonstrative their god, and their highest con- 
ception of happiness is rest. The Hindoos and 
their God, Brahm, illustrate this phase ; they rarely 
engaged in war, and their god never urged them to 
battle and slaughter. The European nations, as well 
as our own, in suit, unfortunately adopted a warlike 
fighting god, with a religion to match, and the conse- 
quence has been these nations have indulged in the 
most devastating and bloody wars the world has ever 
known. More blood has been shed and more lives 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWBBfl. 27 

have been taken in the name of the God Jehovah 
and the religions that have grown out of a belief in 
him, than all the thousands of other gods the world 
has possessed. 

As easy as it has been for the ignorant masses to 
believe in the numerous gods which wily and inter- 
ested priests have foisted upon them, millions of them 
never stopping to doubt, to investigate or even to 
make an enquiry, have blindly and zealously taken 
the gods thus given them, and have been ready 
to kill or be killed in their defense ; as easy, we say, 
as it has been for ignorant nations to believe in these 
gods, to rational, sensible, well informed people, it 
would to us, seem vastly easier to believe in nature 
than in any God. Gods arc imaginary, mythical per- 
sonages which ignorant men have invented and de- 
vised, possessing as we have seen, different and antag- 
onistic qualities and dispositions, some made of wood, 
some of stone, some of metal, and some totally invisi- 
ble, and of which no man, absolutely, knows anything; 
while nature is the great Universe, containing all the 
suns, all the worlds, all matter, all life, all existences 
with all the forces and powers that are. While no 
reasonable person wishes a god of wood, stone or 
brass, while the invisible he cannot see nor compre- 
hend, the boundless Universe is always before us, a 
reality, a power, a totality that for a moment cannot 
be doubted. To us, then, it seems vastly easier to be- 
lieve in Nature than in any god. 

13. Do you know everything that you believe? 

"We see no special point or pertinancy t© this ques- 
tion. All men know certain things of which they have 
positive proof, and these they also believe. They 
likewise believe certain other things, which to them 



28 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

seem probable and reasonable, but which they cannot 
be said to absolutely know. We are no exception to the 
rule. Probably all men are liable to think they knox^ 
what they really only believe. In this tendency we 
also doubtless participate. The best any of us can 
do is to exercise the best reason and judgment we pos- 
sess, to examine and investigate whatever is presented 
us for our acceptance, and to believe nothing that is 
not founded in reason, truth, and upon the immutable 
laws of the Universe. The great error mankind have 
made, is to believe too much without proof, to accept 
the most absurd claims and the most unreasonable 
propositions upon the simple assertion of those who 
really knew no more of the matters involved than 
themselves. This habit, we trust is passing away. 

13. Please give us the name and articles of your faith. 

The name of our belief is known as Rationalism or 
Liberalism, We have never tabulated the articles of 
our faith, but have not the slightest objection to stat- 
ing what they are. We claim to believe what appears 
to us as trut\ and hold ourselves in readiness to accept 
whatever new truth is presented to our consciousness 
and comprehension. We must be our own judge as 
to what truth i5, and feel ourselves under no obligation 
to blindly accept what somebody else may claim to be 
truth, no matter in what book it may be printed or 
what class of priests may demand it. 

In addition to the points of faith already indicated, 
we name the following : 

1. We believe the true God is the God of the Universe, 
and exists alike in all that is. Nothing is above him, 
nothing is below him, nothing is outside of him, all 
are parts of the great divine system which embraces 
all substances and all qualities. This God is just and 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 29 

impartial ; he reveals himself to all alike, and speaks 
to all alike. He c^oes not whisper privately his will to 
iome obscure individual and commission him to pro- 
jlaim the same to the world, and demand that it ac- 
cept it without doubt or question. 

2. We believe the highest duty of man and the purest 
{norality consists in our good offices and kind acts to 
our fellow beings. God neither demands our obla- 
tions nor worship, nor does he need them. He is so 
far above us our actions can neither be any aid or in- 
jury to him. Humanity is the highest expression of 
deity of which we have any knowledge ; to it are due 
all our service, all our devotion, all our worship. In 
following this course, the world will be made more in- 
telligent, more moral and more happy than by all the 
creeds, all the religions and all the gods that have had 
an imagined existence. 

3. We believe good deeds actuated by benevolent 
motives produce happiness, and that our lives should 
be spent in cultivating the good and shunning that 
which is bad and hurtful. That every individual 
must be his own Savior^ and can derive no real bene- 
fit from an unseen, imaginary personage. 

4. It is the duty of all to endeavor to learn and un- 
derstand the laws of our being, and to be controlled 
by the immutable laws of the Universe, looking in 
that direction, in all cases, for guidance and informa- 
tion. 

Without detaining our readers with a more detailed 
statement of what we believe, we will name some 
things we do not believe. 

1. We do not believe the Bible account of the crea- 
tion of the Universe is true. 



30 HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWERS. 

2. We do not believe God ever delighted in, or in- 
cited wars, carnage and bloodshed. 

3. We do not believe God ever created a Devil and 
made a hell in which to punish and torture his crea- 
tures to the latest hours of eternity. 

4. We do not believe he ever established the great 
evils, priestcraft and kingcraft in the world to oppress 
and curse the human race for thousands of years. 

5. We do not believe God ever co-habited with a 
young Jewish maiden and thereby begot a son half god 
and half man. This idea appears so entirely a borrow- 
ed one from prior Leathen mythology we give it no 
credence at all. If there was such a person as Jesus 
Christ, he had a natural father, the same as every 
other being who came into the world, and was no 
more God than any other good man. 

6. We do not believe any human being is to be eter- 
nally damned for not believing that which is impos- 
sible for him to believe, and that it is every man^s un- 
doubted right to believe and accept that which to him 
seems just, right and true. 

Having now answered our friend's questions ; hav- 
ing told him some things we do believe and some 
things we do not believe, we wish to ask him a few 
questions, and hope he will reply to them with the 
same fairness we have endeavored to exercise. 

1. If it is necessary the Universe should have been 
created, is it not just as necessary its author should 
have been created ? 

2. Whence came the Jewish and Christian God, and 
how long has he existed ? 

8. How could God make the boundless Universe 
from nothing ? 
4. Is it likely a good God would make millions of 



HONEST QUESTIONS AND HONEST ANSWEKS. 31 

creatures, and make also a wily Devil to decoy ninety- 
nine hundredths of them to eternal destruction ? 

5. Why did God make the Devil ? 

6. If he did not make evil, where did it come from f 

7. What possible good can it do to punish forever 
countless millions of weak and unfortunate beings f 
Can keeping them in torture perpetually, really add to 
the glory of God ? 

8. If God is unchangeable, and always the same, 
how could he repent on one day of what he had done 
on another day ? 

9. Would it be unjust or unkind in God to rule that 
all men should be happy in whatever state of exist- 
ence they may occupy, and if not would it not be un- 
kind in him not to do it ? 

10. By what principle of justice can cruelty inflict- 
ed upon an innocent person be counted as justification 
to the guilty ? 

11. Is it possible for father ana son to be of the 
same age, or for the latter to beget the former ? 

12. If God raised up the priesthood to lead and 
guide the world, why did he not endow them with 
more self-denial and virtue than they seem to possess? 

13. Is God so influenced by blood, whether of 
bullocks, rams, he-goats, or his only begotten son, 
as to forgive the sins of the blackest criminals, while 
towards countless millions of other unfortunate be- 
ings his displeasure continues forever ? 

We have propounded the same number of questions 
our friend asked us. If he will be kind enough to re- 
ply to them we will be glad to ask him a few more. 
Bhall we hear from him ? 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 32.] 



The Gods of Superstition 

AND 

The God of the Universe. 



BY D, M. BENNETT. 



pelivered before the New York Liberal Club, July 23, 1875.] 



For thousands of years the world has abounded in 
gods, and these gods have been the handiwork of 
man. 

As far back in the early history of our race as we 
are able to penetrate, we find that men have been en- 
gaged in inventing and manufacturing gods. 

We find, too, that these gods, in point of intellect, 
culture, refinement, and morality; have always been 
a leflex of their makers. The more degraded a nation 
or people, the more crude and coarse their gods. If 
the god-makers were but little advanced in intelli- 
gence, if their reasoning powers were but feebly de- 



2 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

veloped, their gods partook of the same character- 
istics, and were monstrosities, often having two or 
more heads, many eyes, distorted visages, numerous 
arms, and other deformities. If the nation was war- 
like and aggressive in disposition, and if they were 
inclined to brigandage and bloodshed, their gods in- 
variably possessed the same characteristics, and they 
often commanded their worshipers to engage in wars 
and carnage, and to despoil the neighboring nations 
of their wealth and their lives. Without mercy they 
authorized the most relentless cruelty, debauchery 
and murder, sparing neither the nursing mother nor 
the infant at her breast. 

If, on the other hand, the nations were peaceful 
and harmless, if they preferred a domestic, quiet life, 
if they esteemed rest and indolence, their gods were 
sure to possess the same tastes and habits, and they 
did not direct their devotees to wars, carnage and 
butchery. These gods delighted in peace and tran- 
quillity, and the best conception of happiness and bliss 
on the part of their makers and worshipers was quiet- 
ness and rest. The ancient gods of India, Persia and 
China, are cases in point. 

Thus we see that whatever characteristics, habits, 
and dispositions a tribe, race, or nation possessed, 
whatever was striking or peculiar in them, was inva- 
riably ascribed to their gods. If the character and 
attributes of the god of a people could be ascertained, 
there would be no difficulty in determining the nat- 
ure, the literature, the intelligence, the habits, and 
the manners of its worshipers. If they were degraded, 
so wei e their gods ; if they were beastly, so were their 
gods ; if they were gluttonous, so were their gods ; 
if they were cruel, so were their gods ; if they were 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 8 

warlike, so were their gods ; if they were murderous, 
so were their gods. 

In view, then, of the great number of gods that 
men have made, and the very small portion of them 
that have been amiable, peaceful, benevolent, and 
honest, there is great truth and pertinency in the re- 
mark that, 

**An honest God is the noblest work of man." 
1 Applause.] 

There are, perhaps, few stronger arguments in fa- 
vor of the early degraded condition of the human race 
— few clearer proofs of the low and debased state of 
the primitive tribes of mankind — than the depraved 
character of the gods they made and worshiped ; and 
we see that to this day among the crude and savage 
portions of the race, where the light of intelligence 
and civilization has but dimly shone, they are still 
making and worshiping the same class of ignorant 
and repulsive gods. Nothing but knowledge and sci- 
ence can dispel from the dark minds of these ignorant 
savages the crude and abhorrent notions of the gods 
which they still hug to their breasts. It is the same 
with all superstitions and errors : the light of science 
and positive knowledge will inevitably drive them 
back to the dark, noisome corners of obscurity and 
oblivion. 

The earliest conception of an invisible power which 
primitive man, as he slowly emerged from the plane 
of mere animal life, entertained, was, doubtless, that 
it was an enemy — that it annoyed and injured him. 
The storm, the tempest, the tornado, the burning 
rays of the summer sun, the killing frosts of winter, 
he looked upon as enemies ; they caused him discom- 
fort and pain, and in the infantile stage of his intellect 



4 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

and experience he imagined that these simple opera- 
tions of Nature were evil powers that delighted to 
afflict him, and in the unprogressed state of his mind 
he fancied he could placate them by bowing in the 
dust before them and offering them worship and sac- 
rifice. As he gained his livelihood by capturing and 
slaying animals of various kinds he sought to appease 
those evil powers, and to propitiate them, by present- 
ing them a portion of the animals he had slain. 

Not being able to perceive these gods or demons with 
his visual organs, though he thought they must necessa- 
rily have an existence, he soon began to make crude 
images of clay, wood and stone to represent to his 
sight the demons or gods he wished to appease and 
keep in a friendly disposition towards himself. These 
images he soon came to regard as the real gods, and 
he feared and dreaded the same, and bowed to the 
earth before them. 

He early began to imagine there were great num- 
bers of these invisible powers, and he readily assign- 
ed separate gods or demons to the winds, the streams, 
the ravines, the oceans, the mountains, the storms, the 
thunder, the sun, the moon, the day, the night, the 
four seasons of the year, and so in many other direc- 
tions. As these gods were multiplied, the fear, the 
worshipful feeling, the veneration and av/e increased, 
becoming one of the leading traits of primitive man, 
but all growing out of his ignorance of the simple 
laws of nature. Could he have understood the causes 
which produce winds and storms — the conditions of 
heat and cold, expansion and contraction, light and 
electricity — he would not in the storm or tempest 
have felt the awe and fear which an imaginary power 
excited in his breast 



THE GOD OP THE UNIYERSE. 5 

Thus, we see, ignorance was the cause of his devis- 
ing imaginary gods and demons. Ignorance is the 
source, whence have proceeded demons, genii, gnomes, 
hobgoblins, furies, fairies, nymphs, naiads, sprites, 
witches and the like. Here was the origin of wor- 
ship in the human breast. Ignorance and supersti- 
tion were its parents, and for thousands of years these 
have been the elements that have fostered and sustain- 
ed it. Worship is claimed to be a high and holy 
quality of man's spiritual organization, and inherent 
in his existence. This is a mistake. It was the re- 
sult of his want of knowledge, and this want of 
knowledge has kept it alive. It degrades a man and 
makes him abject and cringing, and does not elevate 
him. As man has attained to a higher degree of in- 
telligence, as he has been able to understand that 
every result which ever occurred in the Universe has 
been the efiect of natural laws and causes, instead of 
being the work of an angry and fickle Deity, his fears 
and his tendency to worship have together taken their 
flight, and he has learned to view all the operations of 
nature with calmness and imperturbability. 

Those who first invented and fashioned the gods, 
those who assumed to describe their character, their 
wills and wishes, naturally became their priests ; and 
thus it was soon discovered that the gods must have 
mouthpieces, through whom to make known their 
will and pleasure. The gods were found to be of but 
little use without the priests to speak for them, to 
proclaim their will, to command for them homage 
and worship, and to receive for them such sacrifices, 
gifts and offerings as the priests decided must be forth- 
coming. 

Here orisjinated the order of priesthood, which 



6 THE GODS OP SUPERSTITION AND 

for thousands of years has been such a burden, such 
an incubus, such a curse to mankind. Gods have 
been increased by myriads, the crudest images of 
clay, stone, wood and metal ; and animals of nearly 
all kinds have at one time or another been worshiped 
as gods, among which may be named cows, elephants, 
sheep, camels, dogs, cats, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, 
toads and many others of the most disgusting of the 
animal kingdom. 

In the vegetable kingdom, trees, plants, flowers and 
even garlics and onions have by ignorant savages been 
elevated to be gods. 

Elvers and fountains have been special objects of 
worship. We have only to look to the Ganges and 
the Mle, to see two streams before which untold mil- 
lions have prostrated themselves in worship. 

The sun, moon and stars have also been worshiped 
and deified by millions upon millions of the human 
race. 

In this way nearly all the objects in the world, at 
some time or other, by some nation or other, have 
been blindly worshiped as gods. It would require all 
the numerals in our system of notation to give the 
number of objects that poor, benighted man has 
been induced to worship, and all this endless vari- 
ety of gods have required priests. 

The name of these priests is '* legion." It is not in 
the power of man to compute the vast number of 
these leeches, these dead weights, these idle and 
worse than useless mortals the world has been com- 
pelled to support. 

They have always been a privileged class, an aristoc- 
racy, exacting and expensive. They have never been 
producers but constant consumers, who have always 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 7 

managed to live upon the toils and labors of others. 
They have been shrewd enough, too, to secure the 
fat of the land, to obtain the finest linens, the richest 
silks, woo.s and furs which the world has produced. 
They have always claimed that the gods made known 
their will to them, and commanded them to convey 
the same to the ignorant multitudes. 

It has not been the aim of priests to impart knowl- 
edge to their fellows, to teach them that this world 
and the entire Universe are governed solely by natural 
laws. If they have understood this themselves, they 
have purposely kept the masses in ignorance and sub- 
ordination. They have pointed to their gods as being 
the governors and rulers of the world ; they have 
purposely concealed the operation of the simple laws 
of nature, and have superseded them with the whims 
and caprices of the gods. They have also claimed to 
have great influences with these deities, and have pre- 
tended to be able, by prayers and sacrifices, by incan- 
tations and senseless ceremonies, to appease their 
anger, to remove their animosity, and to secure their 
gracious good-will. They have assumed, even, to ad- 
vise and direct the gods, and to tell them, yes, to 
command them how to manage their affairs in this 
world. 

For these very disinterested services — for their ar- 
duous labors in offering prayers and advice to the 
gods, and in detailing to the multitudes their will and 
requirements to them — they have, as we have seen, 
laid heavy exactions upon the people. They have re- 
quired the first fruits of their land, the fattest of their 
flocks and herds, and a large percentage of all other 
wealth, omitting, in no case, that wh'ph has been 
termed ^'filthy lucre.''* [Applause.] 



8 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

They have also exacted a measure of the worship 
for themselves, which they have demanded for the 
gods. They have maintained a power and control 
over the masses in the name of their deities truly 
marvelous, and more onerous to the people than the 
support of kings and stimding armies. 

From the multiplicity of gods and priests have 
grown the numberless forms of religion the world has 
had, and these have been more or less crude, accord- 
ing to the degree of development to which the race had 
attained. The lower grade of religious belief and 
worship is called feticism or animism. We have 
glanced slightly at this form. Their gods were low, 
gross and beastly. Their devotees were full of blind 
ignorance, slavish fears, and abject superstitions. As 
mankind progressed in the scale of intelligence, these 
crudest ideas gradually gave way to a belief less of- 
fensive to reason. 

In following the current of theological ideas and 
the development of human thought, we meet with an 
occasional oasis in the great desert of ignorance and 
superstition — we are pleased to see the prospect is not 
always dark and dreary. Though at no time can we 
find a nationality freed from errors, we gladly hail in- 
stances where these exist in a diminished degree. The 
sun-worshipers of Persia, for instance, were far less 
degraded than those who worshiped fetiches and 
images ; they aspired above the low and groveling. 

In the early ages of that country they had neither 
temples nor altars, and considered it impious to make 
images of divine beings. They ascended mountains 
and offered sacrifices, hymns and prayers to the whole 
expanse of the firmament, and more especially to their 
deity, which was the sun, the center, the source of 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 9 

light and heat in the solar system. They likewise 
worshiped the moon, the stars, the air, fire, earth, and 
water. In short, they may be said to have been wor- 
shipers of the Universe. 

If worship they must, the objects to which they 
paid their pious devotions were probably the most 
suitable ones in nature that they could select. So far, 
however, as worship is concerned, it could be of no 
possible benefit to the objects worshiped, nor to them- 
selves. If their devotions had consisted only in due 
admiration of the great Universe it would have been 
more commendable, bub the sacrificing of animals and 
the prostration of their bodies upon the earth before 
their gods, showed they were so far under the same 
character of superstition that darkened the nations 
w^hich preceded them. 

Much can be said complimentary of the gods they 
adored ; they were not cruel, sanguinary, nor murder- 
ous, like most other gods ; they did not incite wars 
nor bloodshed, and the retinue of priests which at- 
tended upon them, dealt far less in abominable absurdi- 
ties and impositions. The people recognized in the sun 
the source of life and enjoyment in this world : with- 
out its genial, warming rays there could be no vegeta- 
ble nor animal existence. It seemed a fitting object 
for their adoration, and their minds were correspond- 
ingly elevated. 

Worship of the sun was, doubtless, greatly induced 
by the knowledge of astronomy which the Chaldeans, 
Egyptians and ancient Persians had acquired. They 
had watched and closely studied the motions of the 
planets and heavenly bodies, and had become well 
versed in many facts appertaining to them. This 
knowledge of the starry worlds was unquestionably 



10 THE GODS OP SUPERSTITION AND 

the foundation for much of the theology which subse- 
quent nations adopted, though in this they engrafted 
upon their system much which was absurd and unwar- 
ranted. 

In addition to heavenly bodies the Persians had 
other gods — principally Ormuzd — whom they believ- 
ed to be the creator of all existences. Compared with 
tlie great majority of gods that have ruled the chil- 
dren of men he was mild, amiable and harmless. The 
inculcations of his priests did not breathe terror, 
bloodshed, nor damnation. The Persian priests, who 
were called Magi, were, at first, few in number, and 
were required to be of good moral character, which 
condition has, unfortunately, not always since been 
enjoined. [Applause.] In process of time, the priest- 
hood in that country became numerous and powerful, 
and laid the same exactions upon the people that they 
have done in other countries. 

While Ormuzd was a good god, they also had an 
evil god, whom they called Arimanes, and who was 
their great enemy. In their theology, however, they 
managed to annihilate this evil god, or deviJ, which 
is more than our good friends in this country have yet 
succeeded in accomplishing. We are happy to an- 
nounce, however, that the* evil god of Christian the- 
ology, who has for many centuries been a terror to 
children of a small and larger growth, is rapidly be- 
ing curtailed in his domain, and there are thousands 
of good Christians who will new dare to tell you that 
they hardly believe there is really such a person as 
'*01d Nick," and they are half disposed to let the fa- 
bles and legends concerning his Satanic Majesty re- 
lapse into forgetfulness, along with the witches, fair- 
ies, and gnomes of primitive times. [Applause. 1 



THE GOD OF THE UNrVERSE. 11 

We are disposed, also, to comment favorabh^ upon 
the gods of the Hindoos. They were chiefly mild and 
inoffensive, with the exception of Siva, who was the 
devil of their theology, and was doubtless the progen- 
itor or pattern of the Persian devil, the -Grecian dev- 
ils, the Jewish devil, the Christian devil, the Moham- 
medan devil, and many other devils who have these 
many centuries so sadly frightened the poor be-dev- 
iled sons and daughters of humanity. [Applause.] 

The Hindoos also believed in great numbers of evil 
spirits, called Rakshasas, with a prince at their head 
named Eavana. 

Their principal gods were, Brahma, the creator ; 
Vishnu, the preserver ; and Siva, the destroyer. This 
was a trinity, thousands of years older than the trinity 
of Christian theology, and was undoubtedly the origi- 
nal from which the latter was copied. 

Chrishna was also a god, or rather a demigod, in 
great favor with the Hindoos. They claimed lliit he 
was begotten of a virgin without a natural father, and 
that he had a small band of disciples who followed him 
from place to place, whose feet he washed^ that he per- 
formed miracles, and that he was finally put to death 
upon the cross by his enemies. This mythology is 
now positively ascertained to be many hundreds of 
years older than our Christian system, leaving at least 
very strong grounds for suspicion that it was the 
source whence the later mythology was derived. [Ap- 
plause.] 

Much can be said in favor of the mythology of the 
Hindoos, while, of course, it is also open to criticism. 
Their gods were not warlike, revengeful, nor mali- 
cious. They did not institute bloody and protracted 
wars, nor did they prove themselves deadly foes to 



12 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

the human race. Their priests, called Brahmins, were 
full of metaphysics and mysticisms, rites and ceremo- 
nies. Although they were peaceful and non-aggres- 
sive in point of wars and robbery, they were extreme- 
ly aristocratic, and great sticklers for caste and class. 
In this respect ihey were not friends to the best inter- 
ests of human kind. They inaugurated inveterate 
notions of privileges and exclusiveness which the ma- 
ny years since elapsed have not obliterated, and which 
have done more to retard the real advancement of that 
country than any other cause. 

Justice requires that India be credited as the parent 
of the literature and the theology of the world. The 
researches and investigations made within a few 
years, in the Sanscrit language, which was once 
spoken in that country, by such close students as Sir 
William Jones, Max Muller, and Jaccolliot, have 
found in the ancient records of India the strongest 
proofs that thence were drawn many or nearly all the 
favorite dogmas which later theologians have adopt- 
ed, and of which such great capital has been made. 

Want of time will prevent our doing more than 
mentioning Egypt and its gods, Osiris, tsis, and nu- 
merous othei s ; or the Chinese and their god Fot, 
together with their great teacher, Confucius, who, five 
hundred years prior to him of Bethlehem, taught 
morals as pure, lived a life as spotless, and spent 
years far more in number, in enlightening his fellow- 
beings. It was Confucius who, so far as we know, 
first taught the grand sentiment known as ** the Gold- 
en Rule." Yes, the maxim, *'Do not unto others 
what you would not have others do unto you," is 
among the grandest ever enunciated, and was equal- 
ly so, whether spoken by Confucius or Jesus. In 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 13 

matter of priority, however, the former has the ad- 
vantage of several centuries. 

We will next glance at the mythology of the Gre- 
cians and Romans. The priests of those countries 
were noted as god-makers. A thousand years before 
the dawn of the Christian era, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, 
Mercury, Apollo, Pluto, Yulcan, Juno, Minerva, Ve- 
nus, Ceres and numerous other gods and goddesses 
flourished on high Olympus in all their glory and 
majesty. The Grecians were gallant enough to admit 
goddesses into their category of divinities, and ac- 
corded them nearly equal rights with the sterner sex. 
For this magnanimity, they are entitled to a vote of 
thanks from every person who ever existed, and in 
that respect, at least, they stand immensely above 
that triune affair which was since devised, in which 
all are males — the female element not recognized at 
all. [Applause.] 

The Grecians were an intellectual people ; they 
brought literature, art and science to a point of per- 
fection far in advance of where they found them. 
They were at times warlike and aggressive,' and, as 
we said before, their gods were of the same disposi- 
tion. Jupiter was a noted old warrior, and fond of 
hurling thunderbolts at the heads of the unfortunate 
wights who fretted or enfuriated him. But he was 
also, when in good humor, a jovial old fellow, and 
addicted to pleasure of various kinds. Mar§ was dis- 
tinctively a bloody god, and his principal pleasure 
seemed to consist in wars and carnage. 

The sexual intercourse between the gods and god- 
desses, and between the gods and mortals, is a very 
noticeable feature of the Grecian mythology, and ap- 
parently was carried to excess. The begetting of 



14 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

gods and demigods seems to have been very lively, 
until Olympus, the residence of the gods and the 
heaven of the Grecians, was said to be peopled with 
over thirty thousand gods, little and big, and it may 
well be imagined they had a very godly time of it, 
all among themselves. [Sensation.] 

This idea of the gods holding sexual intercourse, 
either among themselves or with mortals, appears to 
have been a favorite one in nearly all the ancient my- 
thologies. Even the mythology which prevails in our 
own time has something of the same character, and, 
as in most other respects, it seems to have been com- 
pelled to take the idea second-hand — the cast-off cloth- 
ing of older systems. 

The Grecian gods, like those of other nations, had 
multitudes of priests, and, as ever, they were an im- 
mense burden to the producing portion of the pop- 
ulace, and contributed largely to the subsequent de- 
moralization and deterioration of the country. 

When Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato and others of 
the old sages came upon the stage of action, they did 
not acknowledge the gods that were then in power, 
nor did they bow the pliant knee to the images which 
represented them. They were Infidels as really as 
are those called Infidels now, who also cannot accept as 
true another phase of mistaken mythology. Those 
philosophers taught a higher code of ethics, a purer 
system of morals, and a truer and more exalted object 
in life. What was the result ? Socrates was arrested, 
tried, condemned to death, and was forced to drink 
the poison hemlock. But he died bravely and nobly 
as he had lived, perhaps the highest type of a brave, 
honest man that ever lived. 

Pythagoras, after spending a useful life inculcating 



THE GOD OP THE UNITERSE. 15 

the highest morals and most exalted sentiments, was, 
at the instigation of priests and populace — whose god 
he could not accept — annoyed, persecuted, and final- 
ly put to death. 

Plato, after the death of Socrates, felt constrained 
to leave his native country for a time, lest a similar 
fate should befall him. 

We passed over Buddha and his system of theolo- 
gy, which, in most respects, is the least exceptionable 
of all the religious systems of the world, being dem- 
ocratic and peaceful in character, presenting a higher 
code of morals, being less aggressive than any other 
system, having fewer gods than others, and those so 
near no gods at all, as to be almost unobjectionable. 
(This paucity of gods obviated the necessity of 
hordes of priests.) 

Buddhism has had the most extensive following of 
any religious system that ever existed, and fewer 
wrongs and crimes against the human race have been 
committed in its name than in any other important 
system. It is estimated that at the present day there 
are 400,000,000 of Buddhists on the earth, while 
counting all the unbelievers in Christian countries, 
they number but 200,000,000, and still Christian priests 
have the assurance to claim it as a mark of divine 
favor, that their religion has spread so widely over 
the earth. Unfortunately also for their claims to 
the special favor of heaven, it must be stated that the 
Mohammedans, though starting six hundred years 
later, have outstripped them in numbers. It is safe 
to say that there'have lived at least forty believers in 
Buddhism to one in Christianity. 

Happy had it been for the world, if Europe, in 
place of the criminal theology it adopted, with the 



16 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

mongrel supplement attached to it, called Christiani- 
ty, had chosen Buddhism as its religion. Many years 
of bloody warfare would have been saved the world ; 
millions of lives would have been preserved, and 
rivers of human blood, instead of rushing in un- 
natural currents, would have been spared to course 
in the arteries and veins of men and women, until 
death in old age liberated them from the cares and 
toils of life. 

We must pass over the ancient gods of Scandina- 
via, Germany, Britain, Gaul and other ancient Euro- 
pean countries. Much could be said of them and of 
the ignorance and gross superstitions connected with 
them, but time is passing and we must hasten on. 

There is an ancient god and an ancient theology to 
which we must give a passing notice, because the 
same, by the course of events, has become closely 
connected with our weal and our woe. We mean Je- 
hovah, the tutelar deity of the Hebrews, and their pit- 
iable theology. We have no desire to shock the sensi- 
tive feelings of any person who has a special rever- 
ence for this god or this system of theology ; for 
ourselves, we have become so far emancipated from 
all the faiths of ignorance and error, and have so far 
withdrawn allegiance from all the gods of superstition 
that we can speak of this god with the same freedom 
and unconcern as of any others of the gods we have 
alluded to. 

Our Christian friends can hear the pagan gods spo- 
ken of in the most severe and truthful language ; they 
can hear the absurdities and falsities connected with 
them denounced in the plainest terms without feeling 
shocked or offended ; but when the Jewish god is re- 
ferred to, except in the most complimentary manner. 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 17 

they raise their hands in holy horror, and wonder in 
their simplicity why the '* presumptuous wretch " who 
dare think, and say what he thinks, is not crushed in- 
to the earth. They have not yet learned that this fa- 
vorite god of theirs possesses no more power to crush 
and damn fearless mortals who presume to think, than 
any of the other gods we have referred to. So we 
propose to speak of this special god with the same 
fairness and the same frankness as of any others. 
The mere fact of the inhabitants of Europe and Amer- 
ica having adopted this particular god makes not the 
slightest difference with the truth or falsity of his the- 
ology — the truth or falsity of the claims it so arrogant- 
ly sets up. 

As a dispassionate observer, we claim to be able to 
draw just comparisons between Jehovah, and Brahma, 
Fotand Qrmuzd ; or Osiris, Jupiter and Thor, and all 
the rest of those old magnates, without the slightest 
favor or partiality. 

We can see virtues where virtues are found, 
And discern vices where vices abound. 

How, then, does Jehovah compare with the gods who 
were known before him ? We fear an honest com- 
parison of merits will not redound to his reputation. 
The characteristics attributed to him by those who 
claim to be his friends and admirers, are not such as 
to command the respect and esteem of an honest, un- 
prejudiced jury. 

We do not propose to get up a regular indictment 
against him, nor make out a ** bill of particulars," but 
we cannot ignore the fickleness, cruelty, maliciousness, 
bloodthirstiness, ferocity, injustice and untruthful- 
ness with which he is charged by those who proclaim 
themselves as his biographers by appointment extra- 



18 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

ordinary — the same priestly class we have spoken of. 

It will hardly be deemed necessary here to adduce 
proof of these specifications, but if it is called for, or 
if these facts are denied, they can easily be substan- 
tiated by an abundance of evidence from the book 
that this same god is said to have written with his 
own finger, or at least to have dictated. 

What are the characteristics of the god under con- 
sideration? He styles himself the *'god of battles," 
and he has been emphatically a god of blood. From 
the earliest accounts of him down to a few centuries, 
only, ago, we find that he has been inciting one nation 
against another nation, and commanding one race to 
assail and exterminate another race. How many 
times men, women and children were cruelly slaugh- 
tered by his express commands! Human blood, in 
thousands of instances, has been made to flow in riv- 
ers by his authority, or in keeping with his instruc- 
tions. He is also said in a fit of anger, and for very 
trivial provocation, on several oceasions to have him- 
self, slain ten, twenty, forty, fifty, and even seventy 
thousands of the people he professed to regard with 
special favor. If such a deity is a *'god of love and 
compassion," we say, most decidedly, let us have one 
of an opposite character. 

It is painful to look at this picture, and we care not 
to dwell upon it. No sane person can deny the cor- 
rectness of the statements made, if the Bible is to be 
taken as true. As cruel, as murderous, and as blood- 
thirsty as many of the other gods of superstition have 
shown themselves to be, and as much as they and 
their religions have done in the past to deluge the 
world in blood, this Jewish god and his followers 
have, in this respect, far transcended them all. 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 19 

It is carefully eti mated that in the name of the 
Christian religion alone, sixty millions of human be- 
ings have been made to bite the dust. Enough of the 
blood of men, women and children has been shed in 
the name of this religion to float all the navies and 
I all the shipping of the world ! 

I . These sixty millions of hapless victims put to death 
' in Christian wars, are exclusive of the great numbers 
j of still more wretched human beings who have been 
I tortured, racked, pullied, thumb-screwed, drawn and 
quartered, and burned at the stake, both with slow 
j fires and fast fires, by that invention of all that is vile 
] and demoniacal in human nature — '' the holy Inquisi- 
tion " — which, for over five hundred years, was in- 
|f dustriously used both by day and by night, as an 
engine of relentless torture, cruelty and death, upon 
those who had the temerity to entertain an independ- 
ent thought, or who dared to dissent from the theo- 
logical dogmas to which holy (?) priests demanded 
they should bow. 

Human language is inadequate to express with suf- 
ficient force the damnable wrongs which, in the name 
of "holiness," and the "love of God," were, during 
those five hundred years of more than midnight 
blackness, pioured upon the defenseless heads of 
thousands of wretched and hopeless men and women. 
If there is a God in heaven, whose watchful eye of 
kindness and love is ever upon his creatures mid all 
the dangers and vicissitudes of life ; if there is a be- 
ing of benevolence and sympathy who holds this 
w^orld in the hollow of his hand, who has fuU cogni- 
zance of every act and event that takes place on the 
globe — if he orders and directs all things, and has 
power equal to his will, to hold the hand of cruelty 



30 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

here, or st£^ the arm of oppression there — if this is 
so, we ask in the name of all that is good, benevo- 
lent, high and holy, why did not this kind Providence 
interfere once in that long five hundred years to sus- 
pend, for a short time, even, this infernal reign of 
terror ? Where is the benefit of having a beneficent 
deity, if he never lifts a finger to stay oppression and 
wrong, and does nothing to succor the helpless and 
defenseless ? The stereotyped reply to inquiries of 
this kind, that '* God's ways are not as man's ways,'* 
and that he *^ takes his own good time to act," utterly 
fail to meet the case. A being who has the power to 
protect the defenseless, to relieve the needy and shield 
the oppressed, and refuses to do so, deserves the exe- 
cration of every man and woman. 

In addition to the sixty millions which were slain 
in Christian wars ; in addition to the unknown thou- 
sands who have, at the secret hour of midnight, and 
at all other hours, been tortured to death in the Inqui- 
sition ; in addition to the relentless warfare and per- 
secutions that were persistently visited for hundreds 
of years upon the peaceful Albigenses, Waldenses, 
Vaudois, Piedmontese and Huguenots, as well as the 
unfortunate Moors of Spain ; in addition to all these, 
the endless wars of the Jews, in which for hundreds 
of years they were almost constantly engaged, and in 
which most bloody butchery, hundreds of thousands, 
yes, millions, were needlessly put to death — putting 
all these together, afiords some faint conception of the 
blood and life that have been poured out in the name 
of Jehovah and the religions instituted in his service. 

As warlike as the Mohammedans were, as aggress- 
ive as other nations have been, the wars of the Jews 
and the Christians, which were emphatically tlie^ 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 31 

wars of Jehovah, have surpassed them all. They have 
excelled the crimes of all other gods and their ig- 
norant .devotees, and have thrown far into the shade 
all other crimes of the world. 

From this unpleasant retrospect, we are inevitably- 
forced to the conclusion, that in counting up the 
thousands ot the gods of superstition and ignorance, 
Jehovah of the Jews and the Christians, most assured- 
ly cannot be left out; for we have seen that in blood- 
shed; cruelty and crime, he outranks and overtops 
them all I 

If it were possible to make a correct estimate of the 
cost in life and blood, treasure and happiness, of all 
the religious wars of the world which have been 
waged in the name of the gods (especially the god 
last mentioned), what would be the grand aggregate ? 
No man can tell! But enough of life and strength and 
treasure have been worse than wasted in this way, to 
make a paradise of the whole earth; to fill every 
swamp on the face of the globe; to construct rail- 
roads in parallel lines within twenty-five miles each, 
and crossing at right angles, over each continent of the 
globe; to endow a school of science on every there 
miles square of the earth, and an industrial insti- 
tution in every township of six miles square, where 
remunerative labor could be provided for all other- 
wise unable to procure it. All this and much more 
could be accomplished with the life and treasure that 
have been wicl^edly wasted in fighting for gods and 
and priests. 

Think also of the mental agony, terror and fore- 
bodings, the fear of infuriated gods and vindictive 
devils, which have destroyed the peace and happiness 



22 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AM) 

of millions of our race, who have been driven to 
melancholy, gloom and despair, by the groundless 
fears which priests have instilled into theic super- 
stitious minds, built up on these gods and devils. 
What a dreary waste of misery and woe to look back 
upon in the centuries of the past, and to view what 
the gods, the priests and religion have done for this 
worlds In surveying the field of horror, the beholder 
is impelled to cry out in anguish: there is no God who 
rules on high, or all this iniquity wculd never have 
been allowed! 

Our Christian friends readily admit the enormities 
of Pagan religions; and in fact all religions but their 
own, while for i^ they claim all the divinity, and all 
the excellence of which the mind can conceive. We 
deny the truth of this claim. We agree with them 
that Paganism was wrong; but insist they are equally 
wrong, for they are themselves perpetuating Pagan 
dogmas and errors. We have seen that the idea of 
Jesus being a person who had God for a father 
and a little Jew girl for a mother, was not an 
original one; it was borrowed from the heathen who 
taught it from five hundred to twelve hundred years 
before the advent of the ISTazarene carpenter. The 
story of his life and adventures presents clear evi- 
dence of being copied from old legends. The tale of 
a crucifixion of a savior is by no means original with 
Christians. Mr. Kersey Graves, in an elaborate 
work, recently published in Boston, proves conclu- 
sivelv from history, that no less than sixteeen saviors 
were said to have been put to death on the cross, a,nd 
all, hundreds of years prior to the time when the le- 
gend was attached to the story of Jesus. We will 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 23 

append the names of these saviors, and the dates of 
their crucifixion: 

T. Christna, of India, 

II. Sakia, 

III. Thammuz, of Syria, 

IV. Witoba, of the Telingonese, 550 

V. Iao, of Nepaul, 

VI. Hesus, of the Celtic Druids, 834 

VII. Quexalcote, of Mexico,, 

VIII. QuiRiNUS, of Rome, 

IX. Prometheus, of Greece, 

X. Thulis, of Egypt, 

XI. Indra, of Thibet, 

XII. Alcestos , of Greece, 

XIII. Atys, of Phrygia, 

XIV. Crite, of Chaldea, 

XV. Bali, of Orisa, 

XVI. Mithra, of Persia, 

In addition to these, Devatat, of Siam, Ixion, of 
Rome, Arollonius, of Tyana in Cappadocia, are all 
reported in history as having died the death of the 
cross. 

Thus we see in mraiy nations, and long before the 
Christian Era, the belief in a crucified Savior had an 
existence. Then is it not easy to see whence the idea 
was derived? 

It is singular how little of the Christian theology 
was original with those who founded it ; and that 
their minds were not fertile enough to invent some 
new idea! 

The Trinity, we have shown was of heathen origin. 

The Holy-Ghost-idea, came from India. 

The belief in a Devil, first existed in heathen lands. 



1200 years. 


B.O 


600 


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800 


t( 


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it 


ii 


620 


(( 


Ii 


834 


n 


bi 


587 


11 


(« 


506 


ii 


ii 


547 


<l 


it 


1700 


(* 


it 


725 


t( 


ti 


600 


(( 


(t 


1170 


u 


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1200 


(( 


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725 


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24 THE GODS OP SUPERSTITION AND 

Crucilixion, we have just seen was borrowed from 
Pagans. 

The cross, as a symbol was used hundreds of years 
before Christianity, in India, Egypt, Thibet and other 
countries. 

The personalized idea of *' the word " or Logos, the 
creator of the world, as made use of by St. John, was 
borrowed from the East. 

The confession and absolution of sin, were of 
heathen origin. 

Baptism by water, originated in India and Persia. 

The sacrament called the Eucharist, was derived 
from the Pagans. 

Annointing with oil, was practiced in Pagan coun- 
tries* from time immemorial. 

The worship of the Son of God, came from the 
heathen. 

A virgin for the mother of God, was first recog- 
nized by Pagans. 

Monasteries and monks, existed in Central Asia 
hundreds of years before the dawn of Christianity. 

The doctrine of miracles came from the Pagans. 

Immortality of the soul was taught by heathen 
philosophers long before the time of Jesus. 

In short, if we take from Christianity all that was 
borrowed from Pagan nations and heathen religions, 
there is literally nothing left of it save its persecu- 
tions, wars and bloodshed, which they did not borrow 
and were able to originate themselves. 

Now if these things are so, where is the good of our 
shutting our eyes to the fact ? The clergy of our 
land and the most of their adherents, claim great 
virtue for simply believing their mythological rubbish, 
and that without question or cavil. This is wrong: 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 25 

if their claims are unfounded, they should 7i<9^ be be- 
lieved. If their system is made up of borrowed le- 
gends it is time the world knew it. 

Christians, we repeat, readily conderr n all gods but 
their own. We can see no more reason in believing 
in their gods than in the balance of the gods of super- 
stition. We set them down in one class, and count 
them all a "bad lot." 

The belief in these gods, and that thej' have reveal- 
ed their will to a few favored individuals, who are 
[^commissioned to convey these godly secrets to the ig- 
norant multitudes, who on pain of hell and damnation 
'e compelled to receive them, has been of incalcula- 
ble injury to the world. It was the origin of priest- 
[craft and the multiform creeds which have been such a 
jurse to mankind. It is quite time the world outgrew 
11 this. It is time the race discarded all the gods of 
Lperstition, the belief in all the old systems and fa- 
fles that have blinded and misled the world for forty 
jnturies. 

Some of the old fallacies may have answered for 
m progressed minds in olden times, but now we re- 
[uire something better. Belief in the salvation of the 
Lce by blood, whether of rams, bullocks, he-goats 
>r even of the son of a god, may have served a pur- 
>ose in certain eras of the world, but we of to-day re- 
[uire something higher. We no longer can be bene- 
ited by a senseless belief in myths, superstitions and 
>lind conjectures ; we demand truth, science, and 
mtwe knowledge. These are the great needs of the 
^orld at this hour. 
We must no longer look to bleeding gods and cru- 
cified saviors for aid. We need to understand the 
laws of the Universe, and of our being. We must be 



36 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

our own saviors. We must develop and increase our 
intelligence, and throw away absurd creeds which 
darkeo the mind. 

We shall find far more benefit in increasing our 
knowledge of all that has a real existence than in re- 
ligion and its countless fallacies. Science and pra<;ti- 
cal education are of more importance to the world 
even, than rhoral ethics. There has been little or no 
advance made in morals for thousands of years. In 
India, and Persia, and China, morals as pure, were 
taught four thousand years ago as the world has to- 
day. 

The highest morality we can exercise is honestly to 
do our duty to our fellow-beings, and to ourselves. 
It is not in our power to benefit, or harm, any god, 
and we have no moral duty in that direction. We 
can do much in helping or injuring our fellow men, 
and equally we can do good or ill to ourselves. And 
herein lie our duty and our moral obligations. The 
attainment of positive and scientific knowledge will 
assist in discharging the duties of life, and in confer- 
ring good upon our brothers and sisters of humanity. 
Here is indicated the path we should pursue — to re- 
vere the Universe and its laws ; to respect science and 
its teachers, and to bid farewell forever to priests and 
the gods Ihey have invented. 

" But how about God ? If you discard the gods of 
superstition and include Jehovah in the number, what 
God have we left ?" 

We have the God of the Universe. 

** Define what we are to understand by the God of 
the Universe. Is he a person or being ?" 

Not at all. A being or person can only occupy a 
certain location at a time. He cannot be every-where 



THE GOD OP THE UNIYERSE. )ii 

at the same time. The deity which pervades the Uni- 
verse, extending forever and forever, without limit or 
bound, is as much in the most distant world which 
the telescope has brought to our view — and millions 
of fimes further away — as on this small sphere. The 
God of the Universe fills immensity ! 

It is amusing, so to speak, to observe the various 
and absurd ideas which different persons entertain 
respectinsj God. Many imagine him much as the old 
German painters represented him — a grave-looking old 
man with grey beard and hair, with a stern counte- 
nance, seated upon a throne, dispensing blessings or 
curses, according to the mood he may chance to be in. 
They invest him with all the bodily organs that we 
have, the same impulses, passions, and emotions. 
They believed him liable to anger, pleasure, sorrow, 
love and hatred, the same as ourselves. 

Although they locate him on his throne, or assign 
him to a single point somewhere in the sky, they af- 
fect to believe his vision extends not only to every 
part of this globe, but to the countless other w^orlds that 
float in space. Just how they are able to believe a 
person can be in thousands of worlds, trillions of 
miles apart, we cannot comprehend. Probably it is 
done with the same facility, and by the same process, 
by which they can believe that the one god is com- 
posed of three distinct persons, father, son and ghost, 
all of the same age and sex, the one being three and 
the three one. How they can reconcile this labyrinth 
of difficulty and contradiction is, to us, an enigma 
worse than a Chinese puzzle. 

This class of believers probably can easily give their 
assent to the description of deity found in the Bible — 
that ' ' smoke came out of his nostrils, and fire out of 



28 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

liis mouth SO that coals were kindled by it ;'* that *' he 
dwelleth in temples not made with hands ;*' that ** he 
rides upon horses ;'' that **he had horns coming out 
of his hands ;" that '* he roareth from on high ;'Vthat 
'* he laughs in scorn ;" that *' he cried and roared ;''^ 
that '*he awakened like a man drunken with wine ;'' 
that '' the Lord is a man of war ;" that *'in his angei 
be persecuted and slew without mercy;" that ''hie 
fury is poured out like fire, and that the rocks are 
thrown down by him;" that **his arrows shall be 
drunken with blood;" that **he became angry and 
swore ;" that *'he is angry with the wicked every 
day ;" that *'the fire of his anger shall burn to the 
lowest hell ;" that '*he burns with anger, his lips are 
full of indisfnation, and his tongue as a devouring 
fire," 

This is a Bible-picture of Jehovah ; let those admire 
it who can. We confess that, to our taste, it is not 
altogether lovely. 

There are other persons, who, while they deprive 
God of a bod}^ organs of sight, etc., still believe him 
a being omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; that 
he is present in all other worlds the same as in this, but 
still that he has a mind, will or purpose, and that he 
cogitates, plans and designs. They think he attends per- 
son ally_ to the movements of all the spheres; that he 
guides the earth in its yearly circuit round the sun; 
that he causes it to revolve on its own axis; that he 
sends storm and tempest; that he attends to the entire 
animal and vegetable kingdoms, and to all other 
movements and operations in the Universe. 

There is another class who look upon God as the 
totality of the unseen powers and forces which per- 
meate the Universe — the source of all life and mo lion, 



THE GOD OF THE XJNFVERSB. 29 

• 

possessing no local habitation: having no organs, and 
consequently no thoughts and n6 intelligence. 

To our mind this latter view is the most rational. 
We cannot conceive of a personality filling immensity. 
We cannot conceive of a deity who manipulates the 
Universe and is extraneous to it. The Universe em- 
braces all that exists, including all the forms of Mat- 
ter and the powers and forces that pertain to it It is 
self -existent and eternal, It never had a beginning 

AND NEVER CAN HAVE AN END. Matter is both UU- 

creatable and indestructible. It is equally impossi- 
ble to reduce a particle of it in any form to non- 
existence, or to bring from non-existence a, particle 
ot it. The Universe is composed of particles or 
atoms. It could not have been made, it cannot be 
unmade. It may change forms continually; but it 
cannot go out of existence, as it never came into ex- 
istence. 

It is the opinion of learned philosophers, that the 
earth and the entire solar system once evolved from a 
nebulous condition, so highly attenuated that some 
cubic miles were required to constitute a grain of 
solid Matter. That through interminable ages, by 
gradual condensations and aggregations, spheres and 
suns and planets were formed and developed, until in 
the lapse of time the present state was reached, to re- 
main, perhaps, through incomputable epochs, and 
then to relapse again into the nebulous condition. 
The Universe may have gone through this and similar 
processes an infinite number of times, and thi« may be 
forever repeated; but no beginning can be conceived 
of a time when there was nothing, and when the en- 
tire cosmos was produced from non-entity. It seems 
much easier to comprehend that the Universe always 



80 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

existed aod always must exist, than to imagine it all 
came from nothing and must again return to nothing. 

To say that a fly created the eagle, which soars 
highest in the azure blue, that a mouse was the 
maker of the elephant, the largest beast that roams 
the Asiatic forests, or that a minnow designed the 
whale, the leviathan of the great deep, is quite as true, 
quite as sensible as to assert that Jehovah, the fickle 
and malicious tutelar god of the Jews-— who con- 
fessed on a certain occasion that **he could not drive 
out the inhabitauts of a valley, because they had 
chariots of iron; " — that this god of limited power who 
ruled one small nation, fashioned, designed and cre- 
ated from absolute nothing the vast, boundless Uni- 
verse, filling immensity; whose height, depth, length 
and breadth is without beginning or end ; upon whose 
waves of ether, float and roll millions and trillions of 
suns, systems and constellations of worlds, so numer- 
ous and vast, that all the numerals in existence would 
fail to express them; which for countless ages have 
rolled on in their trackless course through the ocean 
of space shedding their clear, persistent light for in- 
computable periods down the never ending vistas of 
inimensity; — to say this was all made only six thou- 
sand years ago by a being of limited powers and 
knowledge — how preposterous, indeed ! When will the 
sons of men drop such idle vagaries? When will they 
gain more exalted views of the boundless Universe of 
which our earth apd our solar system are but infini- 
tesimal parts ? 

The idea of a creation and a creator, is an outgrowth 
of the ignorance and superstition of which we have 
spoken. In the infancy of the race, man's mind was 
not developed and intelligent enough to comprehend 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 81 

that the Universe could as easily be eternal as God, 
and that it needed a creator no more than God needed 
one. With their circumscribed views they supposed 
everything they saw in existence required a maker; 
but they seemed not to think that a God, so powerful 
as to make a Universe from nothing, also required a 
creator. By parity of reasoning it would appear, if 
the Universe needed a creator, God also would need 
one. 

As scientific investigation has advanced in the 
world ; as it has been found the Universe is governed 
by laws; as men have learned the heavenly bodies 
move in harmony with those laws ; as they have 
found that the recurrence of eclipses can be calculated 
and foretold to a minute; that the earth revolves on 
its axis and in its course round the sun in obedience 
to the same unvarying laws; that summer and winter 
regularly succeed each other without supervision; 
that storms and tornadoes, earthquakes and volcanoes 
are not the spasmodic actions of an angry God, but 
the direct product of natural causes; that the tides of 
the ocean ebb and flow without extraneous assistance; 
that rains and sunshine, winds and calm, are not con- 
trolled by any being; that vegetable and animal life is 
produced and governed by laws; that health and dis- 
ease depend solely upon causes and conditions; and in 
short that every operation in the Universe is regulated 
by universal laws, which are as eternal as the Universe 
itself — as this is understood, and it is comprehended 
that the Universe is self-existent and required no 
maker, it is perceived there is no necessity for a 
God, and that there is nothing for a God to do. 
Everything and every part of the Universe, moves 
with more precision than the most perfect macliine 



32 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

man ever made, and no being is needed to superintend 
it. 

It surely requires no God to make twice two to be 
four, nor to keep it so* Twice two ever did make 
fc ur, and ever will. This is a simple proposition, it is 
true, but everything in Nature is equally simple, if 
equally well understood; and it illustrates all other 
propositions, laws and conditions which make up the 
iaws of the Universe. They require no urging; they 
require no checking; they require no supervision. 

Many think this view is an impious one, and that it 
detracts from the honor of the Deity. This is not the 
case; the real impiousness consists in denying to the 
glorious Universe the credit it is entitled to. It is im- 
mensily more perfect, more immutable, more compe- 
tent to run itself, than any or all the gods of supersti- 
tion combined. 

The world has so long been schooled in the old 
theory that a god is necessary, back or behind, above 
or below the material world, to make it in the first 
place, and to keep it in the traces afterwards, that it is 
most difficult for men to divest themselves of the 
error. They cling to this god-idea, as a great necessi- 
ty, even when they become convinced that a god is 
not needed to conduct any of the endless operations 
of Nature. Although they are unable to point to a 
single place in the vast Universe where a god for a 
moment is required; although they cannot name a 
single piece of workmanship that God ever perform- 
ed; they think nevertheless, we must have a god to 
hold on to, and to trust to, in case the * 'breeching 
breaks," to prevent things from going to "eternal 
smash." [Applause.] 

Some designate God "the soul of the world;" "the 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 33 

spirit of the Universe; " or **the ghost of all exist- 
ences;" and assign an undefinable character to him 
difficult to describe; but this soul, spirit or ghost, 
cannot possibly have an organization or location, and 
though it can hardly b^ supposed to have thought or 
intelligence, they still clinsc to the idea, and must have 
some substitute for the old gods of superstition which, 
as we have shown, have been palmed upon the world 
from the early ages of ignorance. But, little by little, 
this relic of antiquity is forced to give back, and take 
its departure from progressed minds, along with the be- 
lief in devils, sprites, witches and fairies. The Uni- 
verse needs no sml, it requires no spirit, it has no use 
of a ghost ; equally it needs no god. Indeed it were bet- 
ter to drop the use of all these appellations, in connec- 
tion with the Universe. It is in itself aU in all^ and the 
use of these other terms tends to mislead the mind. 
The name Ood is fitted only to the superstitions of the 
past and is applicable to no portion of the Universe. 
Let men learn, then, to drop the use of the word. 
Univebse is vastly better. 

All the subtile powers and forces of Nature which 
exist, whether attraction, repulsion, gravitation, af- 
finity, light, heat, electricity or magnetism — these and 
all others of the forces of Nature, whetker known or 
unknown, are in the Universe and parts of it, as 
much as the crudest forms of Matter. They permeate 
the Universe through and through, and cannot be 
separated from it. 

It was the great mistake of the earlier philosophers 
— we mean Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others of 
their times, that Matter in its native state is dead. 
The doctrine of **inertia" which was espoused for 
several centuries, and is not yet obsolete, is a huge 



34 THE GODS OV SUPERSTITION AND 

fallacy. Every atom of Matter in existence is 
charged with life, force and motion, and it is not 
within the range of possibility to divest it of these 
inherent qualities. There can be no such thing as 
dead Matter; there is no inertia. 

The idea is entertained by many that there must be 
a grand central intelligence in Nature, which is the 
fountain and source whence all human intelligence is 
drawn. We know, as we said on a former occasion, 
of no intelligence nor mind where there is no organ- 
ization to produce it, any more than we know of sight 
without the optic nerves and organs of vision, or of 
hearing without the tympanum and organs of the ear, 
or of muscular strength without the muscles and con- 
necting apparatus to produce it. Intellect, thought, 
or mind, is not a promiscuous substance floating 
through space ; it is not a primitive element, a sepa- 
rate entity, independent of the forces and material 
of the Universe, but is, as we said, the result of organ- 
ization — an outgrowth of matter— a motion, so to 
speak, of an organ and its connected nervous system. 

We find intellect existing in all grades and degrees 
from the lowest to the highest form, and in all varie- 
ties as regards quality and quantity, but nowhere 
without a suitable organization to give it existence. 
In the vegetable kingdom we perceive the lowest in- 
dications of iatellect, though that there is not a meas- 
ure of it in simple substances when brought into con- 
tact, as in the cases of acids and alkalies, metals and 
oxygen, hydrogen and oxygen, and an infinite number 
of similar chemical combinations, we will not pretend 
to say. That there is intelligence in the vegetable king- 
dom cannot be doubted. It is indicated in the gen- 
eral reaching towards light, as with the potato sprout 



k 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 35 

in a dark cellar in the Spring of the year. If a little 
sunlight steals through a hole or crevice, how the deli- 
cate shoot reaches towards it I How constantly many 
flowers keep their faces towards the sun. Who has 
not witnessed ihe tendrils of a vine reaching for a 
limb or cord, or something to cling to and support 
the growing plant? If there is a support within 
reach it will find it. This appears to be a low order 
of intelligence, but commensurate with the conditions 
calling it forth. 

In the animal kingdom we find varying degrees of 
intelligence, but always in keeping with organs and 
conditions. An oyster has some intelligence, a fly 
more, an ant more, a honey-bee more, a hog still 
more, a dog still more, a horse still more, an elephant 
more still, and man more than all. He is truly said 
to be an epitome of all animal existences below him, 
and the highest expression of divinity in the Uni- 
verse In these and numerous other gradations of 
intellect or mind, the difierence arises from the vari- 
ed organizations, from the quantity and quality of 
brain and the character of the nervous system, a part 
of the connecting apparatus for producing and con- 
veying thought and sensation. 

In man great diversity of intellect exists. If each 
individuality is a spark from a great central intel- 
lect, it would hardly be so ; but when we realize the 
interminable differences in organizations, conditions, 
quality and quantity of brain, togetber with the ever- 
varying character of nervous systems, the reason for 
the great variety of intellects can be partially under- 
stood. 

The production of intellect depends on several 
conditions. In the first place a healthy body is 



36 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

most essential. ^ A good brain, a good nervous system, 
a good stomach, a good digestive apparatus, circula- 
tion of good blood are all indispensable in the pro- 
duction of good mind. Proper food, air and wa- 
ter are of the highest importance in this intri- 
cate process, and without them mind cannot exist. 
As the fuel and water are to the engine ; as hay and 
oats al-e to the muscular strength of the horse, so is 
meat, bread and potatoes to the intellect of man. The 
combustion of the fuel converts the water into steam, 
whose confined force acting upon the piston causes 
the engine to move rapidly, and convey with it hun- 
dreds of tons in weight. The digestion of the hay and 
oats imparts to the horse muscular strength sufficient 
to move bodies ten times his own weight, and what 
also of intellect he possesses ; so the meat, bread and 
potatoes which man eats and assimilates impart to 
him the powers and forces he possesses, including the 
intellect or mind. Deprive the engine of fuel, and it 
must stop ; deny the horse his hay and oats, and he 
cannot haul heavy loads, he must stop ; withhold from 
man his necessary food and he soon becomes exhausted; 
starve him and he has no muscular strength and 
equally no mind ; before the spark of life flickers out 
his mind is gone, he is an idiot or a maniac ; he has 
no intellect. 

It Is well known the labors of the mind are as ex- 
haustive as physical labor, and equally necessitate ma- 
terial food and repose. 

Thus we see food produces mind in the same way 
it produces muscular strength, and that one is the pro- 
duct of matter and organization as really as the other, 
and that we must look for the best intellect where we 
find the best organizations and the best conditions. 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE. 37 

The views here advanced upon the Deity and the 
mind, essentially materialistic, or Universe-alistic, as 
they are, do not militate against the belief in a future 
existence in spirit life. That belief is based on the 
theory that, in the economy of nature, while we are 
developing our physical bodies in this earthly stage of 
existence, we are also perfecting another finer body 
or counterpart of rare and subtile forms of matte: , 
comprising all the organs and parts our cruder organi- 
zations do, and that at the dissolution of this coarser, 
rudimental body, the finer organization is liberated, 
and commences its independent existence; but is really 
composed of matter, and pertains and belongs to 
the Universe just as much as our coarser bodies do. 

Our Spiritualistic friends belieye our former com- 
panions who have departed from our sight are able to 
return to us, to see us and hold communion with us, 
by means of natural laws and forces. 

Thousands of persons, and among them some of the 
most brilliant minds of the age, have been paying 
great attention to this subject, and have become fully 
satisfied that all human beings have a continued, con- 
scious, individual existence. Men of Science have 
devoted years of patient, earnest investigation to this 
subject, and feel as thoroughly convinced that we 
have a spiritual existence as that we have a physical. 

Our own personal opportunities for investigation in 
this direction, have not been extensive; but we are 
free to admit that we have received proofs of an in- 
telligence, disconnected with physical bodies, which 
we cannot ignore; and until some more rational theo- 
ry, explaining this class of phenomena is advanced, 
we are compelled to believe in a cojitinued exist- 
ence after death. The concurrent testimony of num- 



38 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

erous personal friends of intelligence and honesty, of 
the proofs they have received of a similar character, 
demands our candid consideration, and we feel no 
disposition to pooh-pooh it away. On the other hand 
we hope it is true, and are glad if it is. The belief is 
a happy one, and greatly enlarges our estimate of the 
grandeur of the glorious Universe, of which we are 
all infinitesimal parts. 

We by no means accept all the claims set forth by 
those styling themselves spiritual mediums. A large 
proportion — perhaps nineteen twentieths of them — are 
charlatans and frauds, wholly unworthy our confi- 
dence; but that among all this chaff there are many 
grains of the real wheat we fully believe. 

Spiritualism is justly entitled to the credit of de- 
monstrating to mankind, that they have a dual or 
continued existence after this rudimental life, as well 
as for great aid rendered in demolishing the errors of 
superstition; and despite all the shams and decep- 
tions that have been connected with it, we must con- 
cede it great merit for what it has accomplished. 

We would not discourage those from investigating 
the proofs of a future life and the various forms of 
spirit-phenomena, who feel an inclination to do so; 
but we believe a great waste of time, labor and treas- 
ure has been and is being made in that direction. 
Our motto is, ONE WORLD AT A TIME. While we 
are in this state of existence, our duties are here. Here 
is ample scope and need, for all our efforts; all our 
talents and all our aspirations. This is a good sort of 
world, but it is not near what it ought to be, or may 
be. Ignorance and superstition have so retarded 
the progress of the human race, that much needs 
to be done before it can reach the point of per- 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 89 

fection and happiness possible for it. So let us not 
spend our time in running after mediums and pre- 
tenders; let us not strain our eyes in vainly trying to 
see and learn all about the future life. Let us occupy 
all our strength and attention with this life, doing all 
the good we can to ourselves and to those around us, 
and leave the mysteries of the other world till our 
duties in this are accomplished. 

If it is demonstrated to a certainty, that spu'its ex- 
ist in spirit-land, it does not follow we should look to 
them for instruction or advice in the performance of 
our duties here. Oub reason is the highest guide 
and the highest authority we can possibly have, and 
it is wrong to supercede it by looking to invisible 
spirits for counsel and aid. Let us then, cultivate 
our reason; let us develop it to the highest extent 
possible, by scientific studies and investigations, and 
not resign our own judgment and individuality in 
preference to any person here or elsewhere. 

A belief in a continued existence does not imply a 
belief in immortality. Immortality means an endless 
existence. That ours had one end — a beginning — is 
pretty clear. That it extends no farther back than 
the time we were begotten, is most reasonable. That 
our mentality partakes of the characteristics of our 
parents and ancestors, as fully as our bodies do, can- 
not be successively denied. The peculiar traits and 
mental similarities running in nations, tribes and fami- 
lies can have no other explanation. The theory of. 
re-incarnation, or the. eternal existence of mortals, as 
individuals, in the past and in the future, therefore 
appears untenable. Human beings have their begin- 
ning as individualities, when they are begotten, pre- 
cisely as with the lower orders of animal life, and 



40 THE GODS OP SUPERSTITION AND 

vegetable life also. Havinst then, settled the fact that 
we had one end — a beginning — we are forced to the 
logical conclusion, that at some time in the future we 
must come to the other — the close of individual exist- 
ence. We cannot conceive of anything iq the Uni- 
verse having a beginning, but what must also have an 
end. How far in the future the close of our individual 
existence may be, cannot be known, but we trust it 
may be thousands of years. 

As we remarked, it is our present existence that de- 
mands our immediate and undivided attention. The 
needs of the race are great and urgent. Much has 
been done in the acquirement of scientific knowl- 
edge ; but far more remains to be accomplished. 
Science is yet in its infancy. In Physiology, Hy- 
giene, Psychology, Sociology, in short all the studies 
which make up the science of life, as well as in all the 
sciences not here named, the world has yet a great 
deal to learn. It is not enough that we have a few 
learned professors who understand these subjects, the 
masses must also understand them. If not all profes- 
sors, we should be learned men and women in all that 
pertains to life, health, longevity and the best good of 
the race. Every man and woman should feel that 
they have a mission to perform — that it is within their 
power to make this world better for their having lived 
in it, and they should not be satisfied with doing any- 
thing short of their whole duty. 

Ignorance is the prime evil— the great devil 
of the world; and knowledge— science, is the 
true savior. 

The more we drive the former from the earth ; the 
more we study and encourage the latter, the better 
and happier will be our lives. In this labor we shall 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 41 

duly revere the true God of the Universe, and for- 
ever discard from our minds all belief in the gods of 
superstition. [Prolonged applause.] 



The subject of the foregoing lecture was criticised 
and discussed as follows, the language used being 
necessarily much abridged, but the substance re- 
tained : 

Mr. Herman Shook said when he joined the Lib- 
eral Club, he was prepared to hear .subjects discussed 
with great freedom, but had hardly expected to hear 
a lecture so remarkable for boldness as the one just 
uttered. Notwithstanding what he had heard, he 
thought he should continue to believe in the religion 
of his fathers, and to revere the God Jehovah. He 
then diverged into a recital of Oriental fables as to 
the origin of the earth, bilt made no further reply to 
any portions of the lecture. 

Mr. Foulke commended the major portion of the 
lecture, but could not agree with the latter part, where 
the possibility of ghosts was admitted. He thought 
it absurd to deny a ghost to the Universe, and then to 
allow the ghosts which Spiritualism claims. He ar- 
gued at some length the fallacy of a belief in the ex- 
istence of Spirits. 

Mr. H. M. K. Wilcox was glad so radical a lecture 
could be delivered in this hall, without any offensive 
demonstrations of opposition being made. He re- 
garded it as an ominous indication of the progress 
that is being made in this age. He could not agree 
with the positions taken in the lecture, and deemed 
there was abundance of proof of the existence of a 
God. 



42 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND 

He said the lecturer was raistaken as to the length 
of time the Inquisition existed. Five hundred years 
were claimed, when in fact it was but little over three 
hundred, commencing in the year 1456 and ending 
'n«ar the close of the eighteenth century. He was not 
disposed to admit Socrates to be one of the noblest speci- 
mens of mankind that ever lived. It is well known 
he neglected his family and did not provide necessary 
food for them, and spent his time in idleness and 
drunkenness. He thought the lecturer in error about 
Prometheus. He was not crucified, but was lashed to 
a rock, where he perished. He also attempted to get 
off some witticisms as to the circulation of The Truth 
Seeker, and said, in the great shipwrecks that had 
taken place in the publications of the country within 
the past year, in which one thousand had failed, he 
had wondered where Thb^Truth Seeker found a 
constituency; but now he thought he had discovered 
the secret, that it was in the other worlds. 

Mr. Henry Evans deprecated violent attacks on 
Christianity. He felt no alarm at its encroachments, 
and thought, despite the evils which had been con- 
nected with it, it had ser\*ed a good purpose in the 
world. He did not believe we now had anything to 
fear from it, and doubted the propriety of demolish- 
ing it until something was furnished in the place of 
it. He said some unkind things about the assump- 
tions of science, or what he regarded as such. 

Mr. Stephen Pearl Andrews said he had been 
much interested in what he had heard, and consider- 
ed it was work in the right direction. He regarded 
the work of the Iconoclast as essential; Inuch of 
the errors and mistakes of the past are to to be 
cleared away, and he was grateful that so radical and 



THE GOD OP THE UNIYERSE. 43 

iconoclastic a lecture could be complacently listened 
to. It showed we were progressing in the right direc- 
tion. He considered that every shad^ of opinion had 
an eqaal right to be heard from the platform and from 
the press. As a substitute for the term God he pre- 
ferred the appellation of **The Most High" as being 
more expressive and appropriate in every respect. 

Mr. D. E. De Lara, while he conceded learning 
and ability in the lecture, could not agree in the con- 
clusions arrived at by the lecturer. He thought in the 
Universe there were ample proofs. of design and 
mechanism, and instanced the human eye, and thought 
it and its uses showed strong proofs of design. He 
could not give up the idea of a Creator, and asked the 
lecturer how he accounted for the proofs of design we 
see in nature. 

Mr. a. H. H. Dawson made a few remarks upon 
the crimes of Christian nations. He said in no nations 
of the world was there so much of stealing, robbery 
and dishonesty as in Christian nations. He defied 
any one to point out another people upon the face of 
the globe which exhibited so much of rascality, dis- 
honesty and crime as our own American people. He 
cited our national government and our city govern- 
ment as being strong exemplifications of dishonesty 
and iniquity. In no heathen nation had there been 
such a vast amount of immoralit}'' and villain}^ 

Vice-President W. J. Ormsby made a few re- 
marks, rather complimentary of the lecture, and 
he deemed it one that merited a favorable reception 
from the Liberal Club. 

D. M. Bennett, in closing the discussion, replied 
to the criticisms that had been made, substantially as 
follows : 



i^ 



THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION ANI> 



He could not deny the first speaker the right of ad- 
hering to the religion of his fathers, or in believing in 
•whichever god he pleased. It was a right every Arab 
and every Hottentot might equally claim, and were 
equally entitled to; but that argument does not evince a 
spirit of progress in knowledge, science or religion. In 
the path of progress of the human race it has often 
found it necessary to depart from the teachings of the 
fathers, and will doubtless still find it necessary to do so. 
The fathers once taught that the earth was flat and im- 
moveable, and that it was the center and the chief 
part of the Universe. We have learned to think very 
differently upon this subject ; despite what the fath- 
ers once taught, we now believe the world is round, 
that it flies through space at the rate of 68,000 milc^ 
an hour, and that it is only an jextremely minute 
portion of the Universe. We may still find the fath- 
ers were equally wrong on the subject of gods and 
devils. We have not yet discovered all the truths that 
exist, and the errors of our fathers, in many respects, 
still hang over us. 

In reply to Mr. Foulke, he said it was not his ob- 
ject to make proselytes to Spiritualism, but had mere- 
ly mentioned the possibility of a continued existence 
as being cognate to the main subject of the lecture, 
and as not being antagonistic to the unchangeable 
l:iws of the Universe. • He did not regard himself as 
enough of a Spiritualist to do him any harm. He ac- 
corded to every one the right of entertaining views 
and convictions in keeping with the proofs they re- 
ceived. He did not think any person ought to believe 
in anything of which they had no proof, that every 
person ought to be candid enough to acknowledge 
proof when it was presented. The right of founding 



THE GOD OF THE LIniIVERSE. 45 

his belief upon evidence, he claimed for himself, and 
freely accorded it to others. He had not himself ac- 
ceded to a belief in a continued existence, until he had 
Ti ceived proofs of it which he could not ignore, and 
he hoped no reasonable person would be so bigoted as to 
reject proofs when clearly and unmistakably presented. 
He denied the correctness o# Mr. Wilcox's assertion 
as to the origin of the Inquisition, and showed it. was 
founded by St. Dominic in 1216, and was ratified by 
Pope Honorius IH. Its first general operations were 
directed against the unfortunate Albigenses, and in 
this crusade Simon, Count de Montfort took a very 
active part, and b}^ the Pope was appointed Inquisitor 
in Languedoc. The Inquisition was adopted by the 
Count of Thoulouse in 1229, and confided to the Do- 
minicans by Pope Gregory IX. in 1233. In 1251 
Pope Innocent lY. established it in the whole of Italy, 
with the exception of Naples. Thus Mr. Wilcox was 
clearly in the wrong. He repelled the slanderous im- 
putation that Socrates was a drunkard, and denied 
that history sustained such a charge. True, he spent 
much of his time In teaching morals and wisdom to 
the young men of Athens, and in holding profound 
discussions with his disciples and pupils, in which 
enunciations the world has never had more illustrious 
examples of sound wisdom and philosophy. It is dif- 
ficult, at all events, to see why his life was not as com- 
mendable as a similar course pursued by him of Gali- 
lee, who lived four hundred and fifty years later, and 
who has been lauded to the skies for spendinghis time 
in teaching, and who was not only regarded as a friend 
to publicans and sinners, but by a miracle, manufactur- 
ed wine for the people to drink after they were already 
drunk. 



46 THE GODS OF SUPEKSTITION AND 

As to the story of Prometheus, statements are con- 
tradictory. One rendition is that he was fastened to 
a rock, with arms and legs extended, and another 
that he was confined to a cross. In the drama of 
^schylus, which was played upon the stage of Ath- 
ens five hundred years before the Christian era, he 
was represented as being crucified upon a cross of 
wood, and as a man-go9, died to atone for the sins of 
the world. 

As to The Truth Seeker, while its circulation 
was not as extensive as he could wish, and though 
many other papers had gone by the board, he had 
been enabled thus far to pay his bills. He had not 
been aware of having any patronage from other 
worlds ; but if Mr. Wilcox in his visit to the moon or 
other aerial bodies, could obtain any subscribers for 
the paper, he would be glad to receive them. The 
terms are, cash in advance. 

In reply to Mr. De Lara, he said that the appear- 
ance of design did not necessarily prove it. He con- 
ceived there had been an absolute necessity for every 
event that had ever^occurred, and that under the cir- 
cumstances events have necessarily, always had to be 
just as they were, and under existing conditions could 
not be otherwise. Every result that ever occurred. 
had a natural and sufficient cause to produce it, and 
no planning or designing was necessary. If the Uni- 
verse, or any parts of it argued a design, how much 
would the designer, who must be superior to the thing 
designed, himself require a greater designer; and 
where would we stop ? 

Mr. Bennett had no objection to the substitute sug- 
gested by Mr. Andrews, **The Most High," for the 
old name God. It was a convenient term, and every 



THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSB. 47 

person in its use would be free to elevate his deity 
just to the point he pleased, and in accordance with 
his best views and convictions. 

He dissented from Mr. Evans' criticism relative to 
Christianity. He considered it had been a fraud and 
an imposition upon the race, and that it had cost the 
world, in blood and treasures more than all else be- 
sides ; that it was to-day the strongest power on earth 
and the most to be dreaded. Is there nothing con- 
nected with it to excite our apprehensions ? Has it 
no superstitions of pernicious effects ? When we pass 
by the numerous Catholic churches and cathedrals in 
this city, and see the superstitious multitudes that 
rush in to worship the Virgin and her infant God, and 
before doing so are very careful to dip their fingers in 
**holy water" and cross themselves most devoutly — is* 
there nothing in this to excite our pity and alarm our 
fears ? Is it not terrible to see these dupes so complete- 
ly under the control of designing priests ? We con- 
sider our country among the most intelligent in Chris- 
tendom ; this city is its metropolis, and is counted 
the most intellectual city of the world ; but here in 
our very midst, in this Nineteenth Century, are scores 
of thousands of ignorant men and women who are pay- 
ing priests to pardon their sins, and to secure for them 
peace with God ; they are buying of priests charms 
and relics to keep away demons, sickness and misfor- 
tunes. Many of these dupes give half their earnings 
to priests, and are under abject mental bondage. It 
is estimated it costs the XJuited States $200,000,000 
yearly, to support Christianity, and all for no practical 
utility. Is there, then, indeed, no evil about Christi- 
anity that we ought to remove ? And shall we keep 
our hands quiet and our tongues still until we get 



48 THE GODS OF SUPERSTITION AND . 

some substitute for it ? We want no otlier mytli 
or error to set up in its place. The truths which {sci- 
ence is developing is all we need as a substitute. 
When disease and contagion are abroad in our land, we 
seek to remove them as speedily as possible, that 
health may take their place ; we look for no substi- 
tute save natural, healthy conditions. If there is a 
putrifying carcass lying in one of our public squares, 
polluting the atmosphere and scattering the seeds of 
death, should it not be removed as speedily as possi- 
ble; or should we first look around for something as a 
^' substitute " to put in its place, saying, ** we have so 
long been used to this smell, it will not do to remove 
this putrid carcass unless we can get something to put 
in its place that will afford us a similar odor ?" Knowl- 
-edge is the best substitute for ignorance and error ; 
health is the best substitute for contagion and disease. 
Eecause the world has thus far worshiped false gods, 
it does not follow, other false ones should be made to 
take their places before the first shall be discarded. 
The religion of humanity is the best religion — that 
which prompts us to acts of kindness to our fellow- 
beings, and incites us to do all in our power to benefit 
our race. 

The lecturer closed by relating an anecdote illustrat- 
ing the effects of religion on various nationalites, 
ivhich he had recently heard from a friend, Mr. Turn- 
•er. Mr. T. and his sons a few years ago were engag- 
ed in ruuning a pork-packing establishment in this 
<jity, and for the trimmings and cheap meat th^y had 
liundreds of customers among the poor and laboring 
classes. Of this number probably three hundred 
were Irish and two hundred Italians, but all zealous 
Christians and believers in the **Holy Virsjin." There 



r 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. 49 

were also a fair proportion of French, German For 
tuguese, English and Americans. Among the rest 
were some fifty Chinamen, who are heathen, having 
no religion, no pious ceremonies, and no God. How 
did the two classes compare ? It constantly required 
a policeman and one or two others to keep the Chris- 
tians from stealing the meat and going off without 
paying for what they had taken, and they were con- 
tinually finding fault and scolding about what they pur- 
chased, while from the Chinamen they in no case had 
the slightest trouble. They entered quietly, and 
looking over the meat, pointed to a piece they wanted, 
to ascertain its price, and if suited, counted out the 
money, without saying a word to reduce the price. 
After being served they invariably raised their hats to 
the salesman and to the cashier, politely bidding them 
*'good day," and peacefully departed. Mr. T. and 
his sons watched attentively, and they never caught 
one of these hea-thens trying in the slightest degree to 
cheat or defraud, while with their Christian customers 
they had constant trouble, and in spite of all they 
could do, they were daily wronged by the ** followers 
of the cross.' 

These contrasts between the parties named are 
found to exist similarly in otlier lines of business ; in 
their native countries, as well as in the country of 
their adoption, the heathens are honest, upright, 
peaceful, '* child-like and bland,' while their oppo- 
nents, the Christians, are dishonest, quarrelsome, 
rude, coarse, thievish and turbulent. Which are to 
be preferred, and which of the two religions are pro- 
ductive of the best morals and the most gentlemanly 
conduct ? 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 85.] 



MOYINO THE ABK. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the numerous Bible stories of marvelous 
events, the interesting narrative of David removing 
the Ark of God from Kirjath-jearim unto his own 
city, should not be omitted. It was, doubtless, a 
commendable thing for David to do, after the numer- 
ous successes that had so recently attended his battles 
with his competitor Saul, and it is creditable to him 
that in the hour of his triumph, he did not forget the 
residence of his God, and that he provided for it. 

This ark—totally unlike the ark Noah constructed, 
both in size and purpose, has a history, which we will 
briefly examine, -it was manufactured by direct com- 
mand of God to Moses while the Israelites were 
journeying from Egypt to the land of Canaan. On a 
certain occasion, when God had commanded that 
every man in the whole congregation should bring 
him a free-will offering, either of gold, silver, brass, 
blue, purple or scarlet linen, goat's hair, ram's skins 
dyed red, badger's skins, shiltim wood, oil, spices, 
onyx-stones, etc., he gave explicit directions for the 



2 MOVING THE ARK. 

construction of the ark. It was to be made of shittim 
wood, two and a half cubits long, (about four feet,) 
a cubit and a half wide, and the same in depth (some 
thirty inches, our measure.) It was to be overlaid 
with gold inside and out, and a crown of gold upon 
it. A ring of gold was also to be attached to each 
corner, through which staves of shittim wood also 
overlaid with gold, should be introduced, with which 
to carry it. A mercy-seat of pure gold, and of the 
same length as the ark, was to be placed upon it, 
with two golden angels called cherubims, one at each 
end, stretching forth their wings and covering the 
mercy-seat and the ark therewith. In the ark was 
to be kept the testimony or covenant of God to the 
people, and it was to be his special residence, and 
from above it, he was to hold communication with 
Moses. 

It was some little time before the ark was construct- 
ed according to these directions, and not until after 
Moses w ent up on Mount Sinai to assist at engrav- 
ing the ten commandments, after Aaron had made 
the golden calf to worship, after Moses in a fit of an- 
ger thereat broke all the commandments at once, and 
had to return to the Mount and repeat the process of 
getting up another set. After all this, one Bezaleel, 
the son of Uri, who, by the by, must have been a good 
mechanic, got up the ark, and the mercy-seat, and the 
staves, and the cherubims, with their wings spread ac- 
cording to stipulations, as well as a great deal of other 
work, including the tabernacle candlesticks, lamps, 
vessels, bowls, altar, pots, shovels, basons, flesh-hooks, 
fire-pans, laver, court-hangings, curtains, etc., etc. 
It would seem to require a manufactory, with good 
facilities, to turn out such a variety of workmanship, 



MOVIiS'G THK JLliK. S 

and a little wonder might well be excited how a wan- 
dering people, in a wilderness, could afford the neces- 
sary facilities for such a diversity of mechanical opera- 
tions. 

This ark was kept in the tabernacle, which was a 
kind of tent, and the Israelites kept it with them in 
all their wanderings and through all their wars, but 
we do not hear much more of it till near the close of 
the life of Joshua, when at Shiloh, he divided the 
country among the twelve tribes, by lot ; whether by 
throwing dice or by drawing straws, or picking 
numbers out of a hat, or by playing *' seven up," or 
some other game of chance, we are not told, but that 
deciding by lot means by a game of chance of some 
kind, cannot be denied. Well, here the tabernacle 
and the ark was duly set up, and remained there for 
a considerable period. 

After the time of Samuel, on a certain occasion, 
when the Israelites were badly whipped by the Phil- 
istines at £ben-ezer, when four thousand were slain 
and left upon the field ; the defeat seemed to be a 
matter of surprise to the Israelites, and they enquir- 
ed among themselves what it could mean. They 
said : ** Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord out of Shiloh so that it may save us from our 
enemies." Accordingly Hophni and Phineas, sons of 
Eli, were sent for the ark, and they conveyed it into the 
camp. Upon its arrival, the Israelites shouted loudly 
and made such an outcry, that it alarmed the Philis- 
tines who heard it, and when they learned that their 
enemies had brought the ark of their God and would 
then have his assistance, they nerved themselves to 
the contest, and said to each other, **Be strong and 
quit yourselves like men," thus relying upon their 



4 MOVING THE AKK. 

own strength and prowess in opposition to the God 
of the Jews. In the contest that followed the Israel- 
ites were more unsuccessful than before the arrival 
of their God ; this time thirty thousand of their foot- 
men alonCyWere slain. Hophni and Phineas were 
also put to death, and the ark was captured by the 
Philistines. 

A sad fatality seemed connected with the ark; when 
a man of the tribe of Benjamin, with rent clothes, 
hastened to Eli, [the aged father of the two unfortu- 
nate men who had charge of the ark,] who had arrived 
at the advanced age of ninety-eight years, as soon 
as he heard the intelligence of the capture of the 
ark and the death of his sons, he fell over, broke his 
neck and immediately died. The death could not be 
called premature, but was, nevertheless, sad. His 
daughter-in-law, the wife of one of the sons, as soon 
as she heard the news, was taken with premature 
labor and brought forth a child, which she named 
Ichabod, and she died. Thus the ark was the cause 
of a very unusual commotion, in that family, and, so 
far as they were concerned, it had better have re- 
mained at Shiloh. 

The Philistines took the captured ark to Ashdod 
and into the temple or house of their God^ Dagon, 
and set it up beside him, and it seemed to be a dis- 
turbing element there. This god, Dagon, had always 
before behaved himself with propriety, but the first 
night after the ark was brought into his presence, he 
fell with his face to the earth before the ark and laid 
there till his loving worshipers picked him up in the 
morning and sat him right again in his place. On the 
second night this thing was repeated,, with this addi- 
tion, on the second mornini; Dagon was found v.ith 



MOVING THE AEK. 

the palms of both hands cut off, and only the stumps 
were left. This extraordinary occurrence greatly 
alarmed the priests of Dagon, and they doubtless felt 
as though they had in that ark an elephant upon 
their hands. They feared greatly that the invisible 
god in the ark was more powerful than their god, 
which they had before regarded as possessing supreme 
power. 

It is said, also, the hand of the Lord was heavy 
upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and 
smote them with emerods in their secret parts. These 
were probably very bad things to be smitten with, and 
when the people of Ashdod saw all this, they felt that 
the invisible god in the ark was unfriendly to them, 
thus to afflict them, that they said, ''the ark must 
go." It was taken to Gath ; but that city, in conse- 
quence of the presence of the ark and the mysterious 
power within it, was equally unfortunate. A very 
great destruction came upon the city, and all the men, 
both great and small, had emerods in their secret 
parts. It is no wonder those people decided the god 
in the box was not kind to them, and that they imme- 
diately removed it to Ekron, where consternation and 
great destruction was also the immediate result. 
Great numbers were destroyed, and the balance smit- 
ten with emerods. 

It is not singular, we say, that the Philistines be- 
came greatly disturbed at the presence of that myste- 
rious ark, and that they wished it removed from their 
coasts, for they became convinced that the god within 
it would not become acclimated to their country or be 
friendly to them. It was suggested that they make 
some golden mice and some golden emerods and place 
in the ark as a trespass offering to appease its god for 



6 MOVING THE ARK. 

what they had done in bringing the ark to their cities^ 
and then to send it away. They did so. The man- 
ner of sending it was singular. They fastened two 
new milch cows to a new cart and placed the ark 
upon it ; their calves were shut up at home, where- 
upon the cows, without a driver, immediately started 
for Beth-shemesh, a portion of the territory of the 
Israelites, and when they arrived there, the men of 
the place were busy in the harvest fields securing 
their wheat, but when they heard the lowing of the 
cows, and saw the ark coming, they rejoiced and ex- 
pressed their joy by cutting the wood of the cart for 
fuel, and offering the two cows as a burnt offering to 
the god of the ark. It may be judged that this effort 
on their part did not put God in a particularly good 
humor, for in consequence of some one opening the 
ark and looking in, he smote just fifty thousand and 
seventy men on the spot. A pretty good number of 
men, truly, to be gathered in a harvest field ; but we 
are only relating the account, and Will not stop to 
question it. 

It is not singular that the people lamented thu re- 
turn of their god ; they had got along very well with- 
out him, and over fifty thousand lives to pay on the 
first day of his return, was a heavy price indeed. 
The people who were left— for the fifty thousand 
slain did not embrace all who had assembled — sent 
the ark to Kirjath-jearim ; it was taken lo the house 
of Abinadab, and his son Eleazar was sanctified as 
priest to attend to it. In the absence of the god of the 
ark among the Phillistines, the Israelites seem to have 
adopted Baalim, Ashtaroth and other gods, and Sam- 
uel persuaded them to discard these and return to 
their old-time god who had been brought back to 



MOVING THE ARK. 7 

them. He took a sucking lamb and offered it for a 
burnt-offering ** wholly unto the Lord," which seems 
to have restored the former amicable relations, for in 
the battle with the Phiilistines which immediately fol- 
lowed, the latter were badly used up, and for a long 
t me they remained quietly within their own borders. 

As we were saying, it was from this place that 
David decided to remove the ark to his own city, and 
that, after wading through the blood of his own peo- 
ple, which he had so freely shed in his way to the 
throne, it may have been a very praiseworthy measiare 
of his, to remove the aforesaid ark. 

He gathered together thirty thousand of his chosen 
men for the purpose, a number quite suflSlcient, it 
would seem, to move a box four feet long. The ark 
was placed upon a new cart, hauled by cattle, which 
were driven by the sons of Abinadab. David and all 
his companions played before the Lord on all manner 
of musical instruments while the ark moved along. 

On the way a sad event occurred, which proved 
how dangerous a matter it was, even with the best in- 
tentions, for a man to touch the ark. As the cart 
passed over rough ground, the gait of the cattle shook 
the ark badly, and a man by the name of Uzzah fear- 
ing the safety of the ark was endangered, probably 
with the best motives in the world, put his hand upon 
the ark to stead}' it and to keep it from falling from 
the cart. For this piece of temerity the unfortunate 
man suffered severely ; * ' the anger of the Lord was 
kindled against him, and God smote him for his 
error, and there he died by the ark of God." 

This alarming event frightened David so greatly that 
he felt it would be unsafe to have so dangerous a piece 
of furniture near him, and he caused it to be conveyed 



8 MOVING THE ARK. 

to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three 
months. After he learned that the household of 
Obed-edom prospered greatly, he deemed it would be 
safe to convey the ark to his own city. This he had 
done with great gladness, and on the way he sacrific- 
ed oxen and fatlings, and he danced before the ark 
with all his might, midst shouting and the sound of 
trumpets. All this, it is to be supposed, placed the 
Lord in very good humor, for no one was killed on 
this occasion, which was the first instance for a long 
time, when the ark had been moved without one of 
many deaths resulting from it. 

David had the ark placed in the tabernacle which 
he had pitched, and he sacrificed more animals and 
made peace-offerings and served bread and flesh and 
a flagon of wine to each one in the multitude. Good 
feeling and joy seemed to possess all, save his wife, 
Michal, the daughter of Saul, who looked out of the 
window and witnessed David dancing so vigorously 
before the ark in an uncovered condition that she 
reproved him for his shameless, undignified conduct 
in the presence of so many hand-maids and servants. 
David, however, justified himself and said he would 
do worse than that next time. For thus speaking unto 
David, it is said *' Michal had no child unto the day 
of her death;'* but in a subsequent chapter it is stated 
she had five children. How both of these statements 
can be true, or which is true and which is false, we 
will not decide, but will leave our clerical friends 
to explain it. 

After David had deposited the ark and its god in a 
tent, while he himself occupied a house, it struck him 
as not being just the thing, and he proposed to the 
prophet Nathan to build a hou^ for the Lord. Nath- 



MOVING THE ARK. 9 

an approved of the plan, and said the Lord did also ; and 
here was the origin of the temple afterwards built 
at Jerusalem, a special place for the Lord to dwell 
in. David, however, although said to be after God's 
own heart, was so much a man of blood, hav- 
ing caused the death of untold thousands, that he was 
deemed unfit to build the temple, and it was reserved 
for his son and successor, Solomon, who was not so 
bloodthirsty and warlike, but who had a wonderful pen- 
chant for the opposite sex, and who drank bullock's 
blood to recuperate his overtaxed animal powers and 
functions. He had. it will be remembered, seven hun- 
dred wives and three hundred concubines; and for 
him it was reserved to build a holy house to the Lord 
God. 

The main lesson to be learned from this story is, to 
see the crude, imperfect and improbable notions en- 
tertained about God in those primitive times ; that the 
God of the Universe could be confined in a box four 
by two and a half feet square ; that he could be 
moved from place to place by means of cows and 
oxen • that he flew into a fit of anger upon very tri- 
fiiug provocations and killed fifty thousand and more 
at a time ; that he could be pleased with the blood of 
animals and the smell of their roasting flesh, the noise 
and sound of horns, trumpets, shouting, etc., and 
with boisterous dancing and jumping. It is easy to 
see these ideas of Deity were very crude and unpro- 
gressed. Now, it is not supposed the God of the 
Universe can be confined in a bOx of the dimensions 
named, or that it is in the power of men and cattle to 
move him around and set him up here or there. It 
is scarcely believed now that he gets angry and slays 
thousands of men for unintended mistakes, and hence 



10 MOVING THE ARK 

it can b€ seen how unreliable and absurd many of 
those old Bible stories are, and how illy fitted they are 
to the needs of humanity in the present age of tke 

world. 



A Word of Advice. 

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Published at $2.00 per year, including postage, by 

D. M. BENNETT, 
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[Truth Seeker Tbacts. No. 36.] 



BENNETT'S 

Prayer to the Devil. 



Oh, Lucifer, thou Son of the Morning, Prince of 
the Air; thou Sulphureous Majesty, known also as 
Beelzebub, Apollyon, Satan, the Power of Darkness, 
the Evil One, and Monarch of the nether regions ; we 
would address ourselves to thee. We know not 
whence thou art nor whither thou goest ; and in an 
under-tone we would say, we seriously doubt thy ex- 
istence as a personage; but having heard much of 
thee, we would approach thee respectfully. As much 
as is thought to be understood of thee, as many as 
think they have been annoyed by thy presence, little 
or nothing is absolutely known of thee. Thou art said 
to have a frightful visage, with horns on thy head, a 
cloven foot and a long barbed tail, but there is not a 
being alive who hath ever seen thee, and the word of 
those who, in former times claimed to have had a 
glimpse of thy person, is not worthy of credit. 

He who hath told us most of thee, giving us thy 
early history and exploits, was John, surnamed Mil- 
ton. He described thy tall, majestic form and thy 
imposing presence. He narrated most eloquently, 
and in sublime verse, thy prowess and valor in thy 



2 BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 

terrible contest with the King of Heaven, and his su- 
perior forces commanded by his Lieutenant-Generai 
Michael, in which grand contest rocks and mountains 
and thunderbolts were fiercely hurled, and luckily no 
one killed. If it was thy unfortunate fate to be beaten 
in that bloodless conflict and to lose a subordinate posi- 
tion in heaven, thou hast ever since been the victor, and 
hast ruled solely, in hell, and without successful oppo- 
sition on earth. Howbeit, John was a poet and dwelt 
so completely in an imaginary world, that his descrip- 
tions of thee must be viewed in that light, though they 
have been the basis of the theological views concern- 
ing thee. 

The class of men called priests have much to say of 
thee, and claim to have derived great information 
concerning thee from an old book written by un- 
known persons and which itself sadly needs confir- 
mation. 

From all that we can learn of thee, by this record, 
and what its expounders say of thee, thou hast been 
greatly slandered and maligned. Thou art called a 
liar, the father of liars, the source of all evil and the 
cause of all the trouble and unhappiness the world 
has known. We believe this unjust and unfounded. 
In that *' snake story," when thou persuadest our first 
mother to eat a fine apple thy antagonist had created, 
it is held thou didst act very badly, but we cannot see 
wherein; the fruit did open her eyes and the eyes of 
her husband, to know good and evil, and when thou 
saidst to her that in the day they ate thereof, they 
should not surely die, thou toldest no lie, but the 
truth, for they lived nine hundred years thereafter. 
If it was wrong for thee to induce them to partake of 
such beautiful fruit thai was within their reach, was 



Bennett's pRAYii^R to the devil. 3 

it not more wrong to create such a dangerous tempta- 
tion and place it in their sight ? 

In thut friendly tilt thou hadst with thy competitor, 
the Son, otherwise known as the carpenter of Naza- 
reth, and who said that he and the father were one, 
when thou carriedest him to the top of a mountain so 
exceedingly high, that fhou couldst show him all the 
kingdoms of the earth, including not only those on 
the side towards thee, but those on the opposite side 
as well;* and when thou takedst him to the pinnacle 
of the temple to show him the surrounding country, 
thou at least proved thy superior physical power, and 
if thou offeredest him all the kingdoms of the earth 
for a certain consideration, tho' thy enemies would dis- 
parage thee for this, and say thou didst not own them, 
it would seem thou didst, by the right of conquest ; 
and that at all events, thou hadst the right to execute 
a quit-claim deed if thou chosest. 

That little affair with Job, when thou afflictedst him 
so sadly and covered him with boils, was really a little 
shabby, and, most assuredly, an act no gentlemanly dev- 
il would want to be guilty of, but it seems it w^as a spec- 
ial arrangement which thou enteredst into with thy an- 
tagonist, as a matter of experiment, and if thou wert ^ 
culpable, he certainly was no less so, for it was he that 
first named Job to thee. In fact it was a discreditable 
piece of business for both thee and him. 

Though the little expertoent here alluded to waf? 
not worthy a great being, justice impels us to say that 
for many centuries thereafter thou wast not known to 



* QuEET.— How tall a mountain would it reauire in our 
country, to enable a man from the top of it to get a good 
Viuw of Egypt, India, China and Australia? 



4 BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 

be guilty of any reprehensible act, whilst thy oppo- 
nent was guilty of much cruel, merciless conduct, 
causing the death of hundreds of thousands of his 
creatures and inciting numerous wars, in which mil- 
lions of his own peculiar nation and other nations 
were killed. While he has thus caused the death of 
untold numbers of human beings, while he acknowl- 
edged himself the cause of the evil that exists, while 
he admits that he caused the prophets to lie and be 
false ; notwithstanding all the charges of iniquity and 
crime that has been brought against thee, and all the 
opprobrium that has been cast upon thy name, no 
priest can point to a single instance where thou hast 
tolji a falsehood, where thou hast been guilty of theft, 
or where thou hast ever caused the death of a single 
human being. In this respect thou art immensely 
superior to thy antagonist, who is said, daily, hourly 
and momentarily to cause the death of old and young, 
and who has in so many instances led his chosen peo- 
ple to falsehood, theft, robbery and murder. 

As much as thou hast been slandered and abused 
by those who esteem themselves godly, thou hast 
never co-habited with a young maiden ; thou hast 
never committed adultery with the older sisters ; thou 
hast never seduced an unprotected female ; thou 
hast not indulged in drunkenness, nor made wine for 
those already drunk ; thou hast not yielded to anger ; 
thou hast not sought to deprive others of their dues ; 
thou hast not descended to back-biting or slander, 
and, so far as we are able to learn, thou hast always 
conducted thyself like a gentleman, and in all these 
regards hast acquitted thyself far more creditably 
than thy antagonist or his priests. 

Of a truth, thou hast proved thyself a fast friend 



BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 5 

to the human race. Thou hast fostered science 
and education ; thou hast promoted inventions and 
improvements of all kinds tending to increase the 
knowledge and happiness of man. It was thee, it 
was asserted, who first taught Copernicus and Galileo 
that the earth is round ; that it revolves every 
twenty-four hours, and makes its yearly journey 
round the sun. iLwas thee wji'" taught them of the 
countless worlds which float in ''je. It is well thou 
didst this, for it seems thy i ^ ist nor his Son 

knew aught of it ; or if they did, thv . igned not to say 
a word of it in their book or in the. . teachings ; and 
though the Church came near taking the lives of those 
two worthies for telling the world what thou taughtest 
them, we are left to conclude thou didst protect and 
befriend them. 

It was thee who was said to have taught Faust 
and Guttenberg the art of all arts — printing — and 
one or both were cast into prison for their supposed 
intercourse with thee in the matter; and since that 
day pious men of the Church have repeatedly de- 
nounced the printing press as the greatest of evils- 
an invention directly from thee, and bound ultimately 
by the dissemination of light and knowledge, to over- 
throw the Church of God. 

The great inventions of the application of steam, 
the telegraph, railroads, steamboats, lightning-rods, 
friction-matches and the thousands of other useful in- 
ventions, have been denounced by thy enemies as thy 
work, and as having been incited by thee. The pious 
Presbyterians of Scotland even claimed fanning-mills 
to be an invention of thine, and denounced those 
who employed them for cleaning their oats and rye 
with using " the DeviPs wind," and thought they 



6 BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 

ought to be cursed of heaven therefor. Is it not a 
little curious that thine enemies, after denouncing all 
these inventions named, with many others, as thy 
productions, after man has used them and found 
great utility in them, and elevated the race thereby, 
should turn and try to claim them as the result of 
their religion, and to endeavor to establish its proof by 
by their existence ? 

Few among thy^^g^ies are men of science, and 
they advocate ng^'^jjucr ^which tends to impair their old 
system of thec^^j^ |^^ They still insist that it is thou 
who leads thet jjocientific, learned men to discover 
truths in Nature which disprove the idle tales of igno- 
rance found in that old book. Humboldt, Lyell T>ar- 
.wig, .Hji^ley^^Wallace, Farraday, Tyndall, Draper, 
and all that dlass Of scholars, are denounced by the 
Church as thy servants — led and incited by thee ; 
and the brave advocates of mental liberty and free- 
dom of opinion, regardless of priestcraft and false the- 
ology, are still more denounced and maligned. They 
are called children of thine own begetting ; so that 
by the showing of priests, ignorance, superstition, 
mental slavery and fogyism belong to their side, while 
science, learning, invention, innovation, enterprise, 
mental freedom, and human progression, belong to 
thy kingdom, and are the measures of thy founding. 
We pray, then, that thy influence may increase in the 
world, while that of thy antagonist is bound to de- 
crease. 

In the matter of prowess and generalship much in- 
justice is intentionally done thee. Thy antagonist is 
called all-mighty, and is said to be so powerful that 
naught can stand beik)re him. But according to the 
confessions of thy enemies this is untrue. In every 



I 



BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 7 

contest since thy expulsion from Paradise thou hast 
beaten. In the game for the great stake which thou 
and thy opponent have been playing for — mankind — 
thou hast held the trumps and won by far the larger 
share — say twenty to his one. He had greatly the 
advantage to begin with. He made everything just to 
suit himself, and had the fixing of conditions precise- 
ly as he wished, in peopling the world, when thou 
steppedest in, and with little effort or bluster, quickly 
swept the board. If he drowned the race ot man to 
get rid of thy influence ; if he caused nation after na- 
tion to be butchered and exterminated to get an ad- 
vantage over thee; if he even sent his beloved son to be 
sacrificed and cruelly to be put to death to make a point 
on thee, and gain human souls to himself, it all seemed 
of no avail, for thou worsted him in every con- 
test, thou hast come off victorious in every encounter 
and drawest still, a retinue of followers after thee, im- 
mensely more numerous than the sparse number of 
bigots and old fogies that he induces to follow him. 

In view of these facts the injustice which has been 
done thee by thy enemies is most apparent. If thy 
antagonist is called the ''mighty one" thou shouldst 
be called the ''most mighty one." If, in memory of 
what he has done in the world, he should be called 
kind and benevolent, how much more shouldst thou 
be styled great, magnanimous, powerful and super- 
good! How wrong that the firm, including the fath- 
er, the son, and the other individual, each holding a 
third interest, should exclude the greatest and best of 
the four, simply because of his excessive modesty, 
and on whom so much depends, even in the system 
that has been devised in their interest. Without thee 
what would their whole stock in trade be worth? 



8 BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DETIL. 

Without thee what would become of the millions of 
priests that have cried aloud in their name ? Without 
thee their whole system, their grand cathedrals, their 
elegant churches, their sonorous organs, their modest 
chapels, their monasteries, their nunneries, their sem- 
inaries, their colleges, their rites and ceremonies, their 
countless millions in tithes and exactions ; and even 
the source of all their terror and fears would have no 
existence. In view of all this, we exclaim, how shab- 
bily hast thou been treated ! Thou hast been kicked 
out of the firm which should have contained a quar- 
tette, with thyself not farther back than second. It 
might, with propriety have read. Father, Devil, Sou 
& Ghost. 

Another great injury we feel has been done thee, by 
the circulation of the report that thou art engaged in 
a never-ending contract, by the firm aforesaid, to do 
their dirty work for them — to keep up, without cessa- 
tion, the sulphureous fires in the nether regions to a 
white heat, and therein with pitchforks and other cru- 
el implements of torture, thee and thy sub-devils to 
forever pitch and punch, to the latest moments of eter- 
nity, ninety-nine one-hundredths of the entire unfor- 
tunate human race ! We cannot believe this of thee. 
It is all a priestly lie. Nothing in thy character, so 
far as known, justifies the horrible conclusion that thou 
wouldst ever engage in an employment so repulsive, 
and so execrable. As we said, thou hast ever shown 
thyself a friend to the human race, and hast rarely 
done an unkind act to any individual, and we feel as- 
sured that thou wouldst never be so base, so heartless, 
so inconceivably cruel, as to torture thus, countless 
millions of poor, weak, ignorant, helpless mortals 
through endless ages, for the trifling oflenses of a 



BENNETT'S PRAYER 10 THE DEVIL. 9 

short earthly life, and just to please thy old antago- 
nists—the firm of Father, Son & Co. We believe, Un- 
cle Nicholas, if they wanted thee to do this work for 
them, that thou wouldst immediately spurn the idea, 
and bid them do it themselves. 

No, no; imperious Lucifer, we can believe nothing 
of this cruelty of thee; the idea is too monstrous to 
attach to any being, god or demon, much less to a 
character so amiable as thou hast thus far shown thy- 
self to be. The good and benevolent, the free, the 
wise, the intelligent, the learned, the scientific, and 
the lovers of liberty, all follow in thy wake. As thou 
hast heretofore treated them well, thou doubtless will 
continue to do so. We much prefer to train in thy 
band with such men as Socrates, Plato, Copernicus, 
Galileo, Spinoza, Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, By- 
ron, Humboldt, Volney, Paine, Franklin, Jefferson, 
Lincoln, and all such men, than to be numbered with 
the priests, the zealots, the hypocrites, the bigots and 
the murderers, which make up the other crowd. We 
fear not to trust ourselves with thee and thy compan- 
ions. 

We would not deceive thee in the least; we have, as 
we said, grave doubts of thy existence as a person, but 
believe in thee just as firmly as we do in the existence 
of thy antagonist. Both stand on an equality in this 
respect. We regard you both as figments of the 
brains of ignorant superstitious nations, which intel- 
ligence and reason will ultimately drive from the 
earth. 

Prince Lucifer, ^thou spirit of the air ; we say then, 
speed the day — hasten on the time when truth and 
knowledge will rule supreme in all the earth; when 
popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, pastors and elders 



10 BENNETT'S PRAYER TO THE DEVIL. 

can be dispensed with; when the ignorance they have 
fastened on the race will give way; when all »ien can 
exclaim in truth, "we have knowledge, we have light, 
we are our own priests, we walk in Nature's lovely 
path, and none can make us afraid." Amen. 



-: o 



A Word of Advice. 

Beadee: If you wish a live, fearless, outspoken Eadl- 
<?al sheet, subscribe for 

THE TEUTH SEEKER, 

a weekly Journal of Free Thought and Reform. Publish- 
ed at two dollars per year, including postage, by 

D. M. BENNETT, 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



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to hand to neighbors, friends and all enquiring persons, 
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Published by D. M. BENNETT, 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. Kq. 41.] 



Our Ecclesiastical Gentry. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



By an extract from a recent English paper, we no- 
tice a clergyman there, of the Established Church has 
brought a suit against a non-conformist minister to pre- 
vent him from using the affix Rev. before his name. 
The oflending clergyman had lost a daughter, and on 
her tomb-stone he wished to state that she was the 
daughter of the Rev. — — . To prevent his doing this, 
the motion named was made by the other clergyman. 
His position was, that it is the clergymen of the Estab- 
lished Church only, that have the legal right to affix 
Bev, to their names, and that the other party being the 
** independent," or a dissenter, had no right to use it. 

This w^as a small piece of business, truly, but evin- 
ces the spirit of the Christian clergy. The Catholics, 
in the first place, hold that all without the pale of 
their Church are in error, and have not the genuine 
article of Christianity. The Church of England next 
follows on in the same path ; it, only, has the true 
faith. In its wake follow the hundreds of dis- 
senting creeds which make up the Protestant denomi- 



2 OUR ECCLESIASTICAL GENTRY. 

nations. They all claim that their special church has 
the real truth, and that all others are more or less in 
error. Every one virtually says, '*I am right, the 
others are wrong. " 

The fact is, they are all wrong; and many intelligent 
people are steadily coming to this conclusion. They 
are upholding a system of faith composed of, and built 
upon the superstitions of ancient heathen religions, 
which can be easily shown. 

The term Bev.rend is a title of honor, which priests 
for jmany centuries have appropriated to themselves 
upon a false basis. It really means that they are ' ' men 
of God," that they are in his special service, that 
they know more about the mind, will and mysteries 
of God than other men do ; that they can approach 
nearer to his throne, andean wield more influence witii 
him than other men, and that, therefore, they should be 
revered by the masses, looked up to with much vene- 
ration and be paid large salaries for living in idleness, 
with the exception of their weekly appeals to " the 
throne of grace." But *'even this shall pass away." 
The world ife fast finding out these Reverends are an 
expensive, a tyrannical, an aristocratic and a useless 
class. That they are giving their hearers and support- 
ers no positive knowledge, but content themselves with 
dealing out the old superstitions that have existed for 
thousands of j^ears. They tell the same stories and 
make the same appeals made centuries ago, and the 
world is tiring of it. Men no longer want old fables 
and antiquated errors, but knowledge^ science and 

TRUTH. 

For the immense sums the priesthood cost the 
world, they make very meagre returns, and large 
numbers are coming to this conclusion. This country 



OUK ECCLESIASTICAL GENTRY. 3 

alone, spends some two hundred millions of dollars 
annually for supporting its one hundred and twenty 
thousand clergymen and churches. Christendom, en- 
tire, probably spends not less than five hundred mil- 
lions of dollars in the same way. And Tvhat is re- 
ceived in return ? False theology, superstitious dog- 
mas, darkening fables and serious impediments to the 
true progress of the race. Many are getting to under- 
stand that priests Miow no more about God ; no more 
about the Unseen ; no more about the Devil ; no more 
about the future, than other men, and are gradually 
becoming convinced that they are not receiving from 
this privileged class the kind of teaching they require, 
and are entitled to. That clergymen are no better 
and no more moral than other men, proofs are piling 
up, day by day. Many of them find their way into 
our State prisons, while larger numbers are constant- 
ly proving themselves guilty of crimes that honorable 
men heartily despise. 

The world needs teachers, and always will, but they 
must be teachers of truth ; teachers that can impart 
facts the ivorld ought to know — the laws of nature, 
the great needs of the race — the truths of sci-snce and 
the path to usefulness and happiness. In a few 
more decades the Reverends can be dispensed with, 
but the teachers of science will ever be duly appreci- 
ated and rewarded. 



[Truth ISeeker Tracts. No. ij-jt 



I 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITE 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the extraordinary characters of the Bible^ 
and the extraordinary stories of great feats and 
performances, we cannot, of course, forget Elijah 
tlie Tishbite, a *' mighty prophet of the Lord." 
The recital of what he did and what befell him 
taxes our credulity to the utmost ; and if we can- 
not believe it all to be strictly true, we hope our 
Christian friends will not blame us. The story, at 
best, only purports to narrate certain events that 
transpired some three thousand years ago, in a certain 
country in Asia, and as it was extremely common in 
that age. of the world for writers of all countries to 
blend very much fable and fiction with their facts, 
we are compelled to take these marvelous statements 
with a great deal of allowance ; and such parts as are 
wholly at variance with the known laws of nature, we 
are very safe in setting aside. It does not follow that 
we must believe the whole of a story simply becauic 
jt is told in some manuscript or book. We have to© 
»any proofs that, in thousands of cases, falsehoods 



2 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. • 

have been palmed off as truth ; and this was attempt- 
ed in olden times as much as now. 

Elijah, it seems, was born and raised in Gilead. 
This was probably nothing to his discredit, as, for 
ought we know, Gilead was a very good country to 
grow up in. He is introduced to us as making a visit 
to Ahab, king of Israel, and prophesied there would 
be no rain or dew for these years. The account does 
not state how far this remarkable drouth should ex- 
tend, whether just over that particular country or all 
adjoining countries ; but as no limit is giveu, w^e can 
only suppose it meant the entire earth. ^^ These years'*^ 
is slightly indefinite, also, as to time ; it might mean 
two, or it might mean twenty. Less than two it 
could not be, to be years^ and as the third year of the 
drouth is subsequently spoken of, it is usually admit- 
ted that there was no rain or dew for three years. 

This account, to look at it squarely, is a most im- 
probable one, and utterly opposed to nature's laws. 
The moisture from the surface of the earth is con- 
stantly being evaporated and carried into the air. 
The air can hold up a certain quantity and no more. 
When its capacity is filled, and when by the low tem- 
perature of the upper air the vapor is condensed 
again to water, in the form of dew or rain, it 
is bound to descend to the earth. This is inev- 
itable. The moisture that rises in one section may 
be borne off" by the winds in a vapory state for 
hundreds of miles, perhaps, but it must in a short 
time descend. We see, then, it is utterly impos- 
sible that there should be no rain or dew for three 
years, or two years. The atmosphere could not 
sustain the hundredth part of the moisture that would 
rise from the earth in that time. 



ELIJAH THE TI8HBITE. 8 

Think, also, for a moment, the results that would 
follow on the earth, or in any portion of the earth's 
surface, were there to be no rain nor dew upon it for 
three years. The entire surface of the ground would 
become *' as dry as an ash heap '' several feet in depth; 
not a plant nor a tree could live, and it would every- 
where become as barren of vegetable life, and con- 
sequently of animal life too, as the* vast desert of 
Sahara. Every spring, every rill, every creek and 
every river would become dr}', and the lakes and the 
ocean itself would be greatly exhausted.- Constant 
evaporation, with uo returns of moisture, would pro- 
duce this precise result. Not a human being and not 
an animal could survive such a drouth. 

The story is so entirely impossible that no person 
under the control of reason and good sense can be- 
lieve it for a moment. It is certainly a fabrication 
entire, or a great exaggeration; and both being so easy 
of accomplishment, it can well be understood how 
much more probable it is that it is one or the other 
than that such an impossible event as is here narrat- 
ed could have occurred. 

To return to our story. After the Tishbite had de- 
livered this remarkable prediction to Ahab, God told 
him to " get hence," and contrary to Greeley's advice 
to the young men to **go West," God advised this 
man to go East and hide himself by the brook Cherith, 
where he could get plenty of water to drink, and as- 
sured him he had arranged with the ravens to supply 
him regularly morning and evening with flesh and 
with bread. The necessity of hiding himself is not 
apparent unless it was to afford God an opportunity of 
showing him with what ease he could furnish him 
with his daily food. In view, however, of the thou- 



4 ELIJAH THE TI8HBITB. 

sands of deserving and unfortunate individuals, 
shipwrecked on the ocean, cast away on desolate 
islands, lost in the wilderness, separated from the 
haunts of men, imprisoned under various circum- 
stances, and through poverty, destitution and want — 
in cities and in country — yes, in view of the hun- 
dreds of thousands of hapless mortals who, under 
all these conditions and many others, have been left 
to perish, starve and die without a thing being done 
by God in their behalf, or a single raven being sent to 
their relief, it looks as though God is partial and does 
not treat all alike. That ravens, too, should be the 
medium of relief, is a little out of the natural course 
of things. Ravens, rooks and crows are not usually 
regarded as friends to man, their services by the an- 
cients were assigned to demons and evil spirits. They 
are certainly mischievous and troublesome in various 
ways. If, however, in this case they were angels of 
mercy, they were black angels. 

In a short time the brook Cherith dried up, and 
it is to be inferred the ravens became remiss in 
their duties, for Elijah got very hungry, and was 
forced to change his boarding house. It may be 
supposed that God and the ravens together could still 
have managed to procure water and bread for the 
prophet, but God, of course, knew best how to carry 
on his own work. He now directed the Tishbite to 
Zarephath, where he had engaged a widow woman to 
attend to him. That was a good change. Commend 
us always, to a widow woman for a companion and to 
prepare our daily food, rather than ravens and 
crows. We would sooner pay double price for a home 
with a widow, and have the benefit of ker ministra- 
tions, than to hide by the side of a brook, run dry, with 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 6 

none but treacherous ravens to take care of us. Doubt- 
less the good man wished he had been directed to the 
widow at first. 

He found the widow, however, in very straitened 
circumstances, and when the prophet importuned her 
to prepare him something to eat, she protested in the 
name of heaven that all the food she had in the world 
was a handful of meal and a small quantity of oil 
in a cruse — a slight stock of provisions, truly, to car- 
ry three persons through a three year's drouth and 
famine. Elijah, not having had a** square meal" 
for some time, was eloquent and ardent, and he 
bade her not to fear, but to make him a cake at 
once. She said she was just about gathering two 
sticks to make a little fire to cook the small amount of 
meal left, for herself and son, and then, she had made 
up her mind she and he would lay down and die. 
Elijah was a good persuader ; upon the strength of 
his promise that her barrel of meal should not waste 
away, and that the cruse of oil should not be ex- 
hausted until the dry weather was over, he induc- 
ed her to get him a dinner. And here comes in 
the best part of the story ; though she and he did 
eat together many days, and many months, the bar- 
rel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil 
fail. There was nothing bad about that ; in short, it 
was an excellent arrangement. 

It probably was not much trouble for God to do 
that little favor, and it was so much better that they 
should have enough to eat than to be left to starve. 
The main thing to be regretted is that the practice 
has not been more common. How many poor widows 
have famished with hunger day after day, and have 
seen their little babes waste away and die for the want 



6 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

of food, and not a spoonful of meal nor a drop of oil 
was provided for them. There are thousands this 
moment in this great city, and in all other great cities, 
and all over the world, that know not where to get 
their supper this night, and will throw themselves upon 
their wretched beds without a mouthful in their 
stomachs. No ravens will minister to them — no meal 
or oil will be provided for them. It seems, truly, that this 
good God, which the priests tell us of, is partial ; he 
treats some, so much better than others. He is very 
apt to neglect the widows and their little babes, (who, 
of all others, should have his special care,) and leave 
them to famish, while his priests and prophets are 
well provided for. Even the widow woman in 
this story, would doubtless have been left to starve, 
and nothing would have been done for her, had not 
Elijah came along as he did. It squints very much of 
partiality, say what you will. In these days God 
seems to provide very few meals for anybody. If they 
do not supply themselves, or some kind-hearted peo- 
ple do not give it to them, they have to go without. 
It does little good to call upon God for -^eat and 
bread. 

Elijah And the widow got along well together, 
till a little mishap befell the boy. Either frf^m eating 
too much, or some other cause, his breath went out 
of him, and the widow blamed Elijah aboi^t it and 
upbraided him so much, that he took the lad in an 
upper room (probably it was a three-story house), 
and "brought him to." It is usually suppo^^d that 
the boy had died, but this is a mistake. If he were 
dead he would have remained so in spite of any 
ceremonies Elijah could have performed over him. 
When once a human being, or an animal, is dead\ wheh 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 7 

their life has fully passed out of them, that is the end 
of it ; no more living again for them ; and whenever 
you hear a story about some one being raised from 
the dead, don't believe a word of it — the thing is ut- 
terly impossible. You might as well talk of raising 
men from logs and rocks. A body that is absolutely 
dead must remain so and must hasten to decay, its 
elements soon to be absorbed in other organizations. 
Whatever class of men, or whatever book teaches to 
the contrary of this, teaches what is false. The claim 
of raising the dead, was in former times set up by 
many pretenders and frauds, but in every case it was 
untrue; the thing was never done. ** Baron Mun- 
chausen," **The Arabian Nights," or *' Gulliver's 
Travels " make statements as wonderful, but nothing 
farther from the truth. 

It was afterwards said of Joseph's son — or rather 
his wife's son — that he raised one from the dead, but 
the remarks just made, apply to his case. It is alto- 
gether easier for the assertion to be false than to be true. 

In the case of the widow's son, however, the narra- 
tive does not say that he died, but that there was no 
breath left in him. That might easily be. The 
breath has gone out of many a one, and they lived 
years afterwards. In catalepsy, swooning, syncope 
and trance, the breath often leaves the body, sometimes 
for days, and yet the patient is not dead, and after a 
time revives again. This might have been the case 
with the widow's son ; respiration might have been 
temporarily suspended, and Elijah, by his manipula- 
tions, might have revived him. If this was the case, 
H was nothing wonderful, and no stranger than fre- 
quently occurs, and hardly deserves a place in the 
''word of God." 



8 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

In the third year of the drouth the Lord sent Eli- 
jah unto Ahab, again to make another prophecy and 
to predict rain upon the earth. It was the very thing 
that Ahab and all others wanted, for the famine was 
"^ery sore in the land. The king and his governor, 
^Dbadiah, were out looking in every direction over the 
whole country for water to save the king's mules and 
cattle. Elijah met Obadiah, and wished him to con- 
vey intelligence to the king that he was there. Oba- 
diah was a good man, and had preserved a hundred 
prophets in caves, daily sending them food and 
drink. It is presumable that he was, at least, as trust- 
worthy in carrying food as the ravens had been. He 
objected to taking that message to Ahab, fearing 
the latter w^ould put him to death, inasmuch as Ahab 
had sought in every nation and kingdom, to find Eli- 
jah, and had sworn every nation that they knew 
not where the prophet was, Ahab i^robably deemed 
Elijah the cause of the drouth, and wished to put him 
to death, but being snugly ensconced with the widow, 
living on meal and oil, the king was not able to find 
him. This searching every nation and kingdom 
must have been a heavy contract for Ahab, if 
there were as many nations in existence then, as 
now, Obadiah feared that if he told the king 
Elijah had returned, and then Elijah should secreta 
himself again, and Ahab be unable to find him, that 
he, Obadiah, would be slain. Elijah, however, by a 
promise, overcame Obadiah's objections, and he con- 
veyed the desired message to the king, and a meeting 
between Ahab and Elijah was effected. ' 

The king upbraided the prophet for causing all the 
trouble that had occurred, whereupon the prophet 
Uiid him U was all kie own fault, la cc^nseg^ueBce of his 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITB. S 

going after the false god, Baalim, and this was the 
reason given why there had been no rain upon the 
earth for. three years, and in consequence of which 
men, beasts and vegetation had sufiered so severely — 
a bit of jealousy on the part of the good God of the 
Jews, that was all. 

It was arranged, however, between the prophet and 
the king, that the matter should be tested and the 
power of the two gods thoroughly proved, that it 
might be known who was God and who was not. 
Elijah proposed that the four hundred and fifty proph- 
ets of Baal whom Jezebel was daily feeding at her 
table, should meet him at Mount Carmel and match 
their god against his. This was done. Altars were 
erected, bullocks prepared and laid upon them ready 
for sacrifice, but no fire put under. Whichever 
god was able to cause fire upon his respective al- 
tar should be regarded as the real God. The four 
hundred and fifty p. iests of Baal called upon their 
god from morn till neon to manifest himself, but he 
failed to answer their wish, whereupon Elijah mock- 
ed them and told them to cry louder, that perhaps 
their god was talking or pursuing, or on a journey, or 
possibly asleep and required awaking. Then they 
cried louder, and even cut themselves with knives and 
lancets, and let their blood flow freely upon the ground, 
but all of no avail ; neither their cries, continued the 
whole day, nor the shedding of blood answered the 
purpose. [Qyery. When the God of the Jews and 
Christians fails to answer the thousands of prayers of- 
fered unto him, which is the rule, would there be any- 
thing amiss, after the illustrious example of Elijah, for 
their opponents to mock them and ridicule them, and 
say their god must be talking, journeying or asleep ?] 



10 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

Elijah constructed an altar of twelve stones— (a 
holy number)— upon which he placed wood and a 
bullock, but no fire. He ordered four barrels of wa- 
ter to be poured upon the altar .^ which was done ; 
then he said, **do it the second time," and it was done ; 
then he said, "do it the third time," and the third time 
four barrels of water were thus poured upon the altar. 
The question naturally arises, when there had been no 
rain for three years, and when the king and his gov- 
ernor had themselves been compelled to search the 
whole country over for water, where it could be found 
in such quantities as to uselessly throw away twelve 
barrels ; but questions are scarcely in order, we must 
take the story as it is. Suffice it to say, at the proper 
moment Elijah called upon his God to let himself be 
known, when the fire from the Lord fell upon the altar, 
burned up the sacrifice, and even licked up the twelve 
barrels of water. Upon this astonishing performance, 
the people fell upon their faces and had no further 
doubts which was the God. Then the good man, Eli- 
jah, took the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal 
down to the brook Kishon (it seems this brook had 
not gone dry) and there put them all to death. Who 
can doubt Elijah being a man of God after this whole- 
sale slaughter ? The query might arise what those 
four hundred and fifty prophets were doing while Eli- 
jah, single-handed, put them all to death ? Possibly 
his God assisted him ; it would be much in keeping 
with the killing he did on other occasions. Again, if 
they were as sincere in their allegiance as Elijah was — 
and their cutting and gashing themselves would seem 
to prove they were — was it not rather severe and un > 
godlike to put them to death for it ? 

The production of fire in the midst of the water 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 11 

that was poured so freely upon the altar, has been at- 
tempted to be accountedrfor by the possibility of the 
prophet haTing some potassium and placing^ it upon 
the altar, as it is well known that that mineral, in its 
native state, readily takes fire while floating upon wa- 
ter, and burns with great brilliance and persistency. 
Others have suggested phosphorus, which takes fire 
spontaneously at a certain temperature, but we do not 
believe he knew enough about chemistry to under- 
stand the nature of either potassium or phosphorus. 
It is altogether more probable the whole story is a 
fabrication, written by, no one knows who, and is 
wholly unworthy of credence. If there had been no 
rain nor dew upon the earth for the space of three 
years, as we remarked, there could be no vegetable or 
animal life left, and consequently no bullocks, no 
water, no priests, no Ahab and no Elijah. If the 
trench that the prophet dug around the altar " held 
water," the story will not. 

The best part of that remarkable day's work on the 
part of Elijah was the fine rain he produced at the 
close of the day, thus ending the three years' drouth. 
He went upon the top of Mount Carmel and cast him- 
self upon the ground, placed his face between his 
knees and kept his servant watching for the appear- 
ance of a cloud in the horizon. What occult powers 
he employed to produce the clouds and the rain is 
not known, and the secret is lost to the world, but at 
length the rain came and the earth was greatly re- 
freshed. 

It is difficult to see what had been gained by tho 
*'long dry spell,'* and the intense suffering it must 
have caused, except it was the chance of making that 
fire test and slaying the four hundred and fifty proph- 



IS ELIJAH THE TISHBITB. 

ets of Baal ; and it would seem that could have been 
brought about at a far less coat. 

If this story is true, Elijah must have been about 
the smartest man that ever lived. What he did in the 
evening of this one day — burning up a bullock and 
twelve barrels of water without fire, killing four hun- 
dred and fifty men, and then to produce a first-class 
rain, is more than any man that lives could do in a 
week. But this story wDl bear discounting very exten- 
sively. 

After Elijah had put to death the four hundred and 
fifty prophets of Baal, Ahab returned and informed 
his wife, Jezebel, what the good man had done, and 
as the murdered men were her friends, she naturally 
was much ofiended, and she sent word to theTishbite 
that she would have his life within twenty-four hours. 
This alarmed the prophet greatly, and he fled for his 
life, evidently having more confidence in JezebePs 
enmity than in his God's protection. 

He went a day's journey into the wilderness, and in 
A gloomy state of mind took a seat under a juniper 
tree, and ** even wished he were dead." He asked 
the Lord to take his life ; but instead of dying, he 
took a nap, from which he was awakened by the 
touch of an angel, who invited him to partake of a 
repast provided for him of cake, freshly baked, and a 
cruse of water. This was not brought by ravens, but 
by angels of another color. The prophet ate heartily 
and laid down again, doubtless wearied with his day's 
walk. After this sleep, the angel prepared another 
repast, to which he invited the prophet. That must 
have been a hearty, refreshing meal, for, upon the 
strength of it, Elijah walked forty days and forty 
nights, unto Horeb. This fl;?eat feat of pedestrianism 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITB. 13 

surpasses anything the world has known in that line. 
It leaves Weston and others far in the shade. They 
have walked six days and nights consecutively by 
stopping three or four hours each day for refresh- 
ments and sleep ; but this Tishbite man kept it up 
forty days and forty nights — and all upon the strength 
of that one meal. Not knowing the distance to 
Horeb, we cannot say how that walk was for speed, 
but in point of long continuance without food or 
rest, it is most astonishing, and taxes our titmost cre- 
dulity. 

If God had special need for Elijah at 3Eoreb. it 
would have been kind in him to have transported him 
thither in a more pleasant manner than by his making 
such a lonp: continued and wearisome effort. If he 
had sent around his carriage, in which he afterwards 
transported his servant to heaven, it would have saved 
the old man many weary days and nights. 

Elijah must have been greatly in fear of Queen 
'Jezebel to thus hasten away from her , Why did he 
not go back to the widow where he lived in such safe 
seclusion, and where he had been so well treated ? It 
certainly would have been preferable to such a tire- 
some walk of forty days and nights without food or 
j sleep. 

On arriving at Horeb, the prophet took up his 
abode in a cave, and singularly enough, God came by 
in a still, small voice and asked him what he was do- 
ing there ? The prophet answered by asserting 
the zeal he had felt for God, and that he had fled 
from those who sought his life ; whereupon God com- 
manded him to go and anoint Hazael, king of Syria, 
and Jehu, king of Israel, and to look up Elisha, the 
son of Shaphat^ and anoint him to be prophet in his 



14 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

his own place. Elijah left to perform this mission. 
He found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of oxen — 
a pretty good ** plow-team," at all events, and one 
that ought to have turned a good furrow. Elisha 
seemed to enter very readily upon his new mission, 
after slaying two of the oxen, boiling them with the 
harness and plows, and gave the flesh to the people to 
eat. This done, he followed Elijah to learn to be a 
prophet. 

After King Ahab had been slain at Ramoth-Gilead, 
in consequence of taking the word of four hundred 
lying prophets which God sent to deceive him, that 
he might be slain, and his son Ahaziah had succeeded 
him, it so happened that the son fell through some 
lattice work and injured himself considerably and 
was obliged to go to bed. Wishing to know the re- 
sult of the injury, and whether it would terminate in 
death, he saw fit to send messengers to consult Baal- 
zebub, the god of Ekron, relative to the matter. 
This seems to have aroused God's jealousy, and he 
sent Elijah to intercept the messengers, and ask them 
if there was no God in Israel of whom they could 
enquire. The Tishbite told the messengers that the 
kinsj should not recover, and they returned back to 
their master, who enquired of them why they had re- 
turned. They told him about meeting Elijah, and 
what he had said. The king then sent a captain and 
fifty men to go to Elijah and make further enquiries, 
and to bring him to the king. They found the 
prophet on the top of a hill, and the captain spoke 
very respectfully to him, calling him '*man of God,'* 
and saying the king wished to see him. Elijah's ami- 
able reply to this was: **If I be a man of God, then 
let fire come down from heaven and consume thee 



ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. lo 

and thy fifty," and immediately the fire descended 
and consumed them. The king sent another captain 
with fifty more men, and they met the same fate ; Eli- 
jah called down fire from heaven and consumed 
them. 

In thus burning to death these one hundred and two 
men for merely asking the prophet to come down, was 
a punishment which in severity was out of all pro- 
portion to the offense. If the king erred, the men 
surely were not at fault, and it was a hard fortune 
that they should be burned to death for rendering 
simple obedience to the command of their king. 
Divine justice, however, according to many parts of 
the Bible, is so different from our highest conceptions 
of human justice, that we are often shocked at its un- 
merited severity, as in this case. 

The king, being still solicitous, sent the third cap-- 
tain with fifty men, and this captain fell upon his 
knees before Elijah and implored him to be merciful 
and not slay them with fire as he had the two other 
companies who had visited him, and begged him to 
go and see the king. An angel just at that moment 
spoke a low word to the prophet, and told him to go 
down and see the king, and be not afraid, and he went. 
Had he done this sooner, the lives of one hundred 
men might have been saved. Elijah, after all, gave 
the king very little satisfaction, and told him that in 
"consequence of his presuming to send to Baal-zebub, 
he should not recover, and he soon died. 

It now appears that the good prophet had done so 
much to please his God, that the latter had decided to 
take him up into heaven unto himself in a most pe- 
culiar manner. We are left to suppose the killing of 
four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the burn- 



16 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

ing of two captains and one hundred men had ren- 
dered him a special favorite with God for which he 
should be rewarded in a remarkable way. Elijah and 
Elisha started together from Gilgal, and the former 
being aware his time had about come, seemed to wish 
to get away from the latter, and tried at a number of 
places to induce him to tarry and let him go on by him- 
self ; but Elisha stuck to him like a brother, and 
swore he would not leave him. Tiiey went first to 
Bethel, when Elijah said God had sent him to Jericho, 
then they went to Jericho, from which place Elijah 
said the Lord had sent him to Jordan. 

When they arrived at that river, Elijah took his 
mantle and smote the waters, and they were divided 
hither and thither, so that the two went ©ver on dry 
land. This was truly a great feat to perform, and 
one all the prophets, priests, bishops and popes now 
in the world combined, could not perform. It is so 
unnatural for the waters of a river to pile up like a 
wall on either side, and so unusual for the bed of a 
river in a few minutes to become dry ground, so men 
could walk over dry shod, that it is very difficult for 
us to believe this was done in the case under consid- 
eration. It is entirely opposed to the laws of nature ; 
water is ever quick to s( ek its level, and will not stand 
up like a wall unless it is frozen, neither will the beds 
of rivers, which abound in soft deposits of mud — 
could the water be removed — suddenly become dry, 
firm ground. 

It would seem the waters of the river Jordan had 
almost become accustomed to being parted and piled 
up like a wall. They parted that way for Joshua and 
his army ; in this case for Elijah, and on a subsequent 
occasion for Elisha. They may have got used to it, 



ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 17 

but if they are keeping it up to this day, the world 
has no account of it. We know that the waters of 
our rivers will not perform in this way, though they 
be smitten with all the mantles, cloaks, coats and 
pants in Chatham street. If the power to divide 
rivers could have been conveyed to posterity, and the 
secret transmitted to us of modern times, of what im- 
mense utility it might have been to the world in the 
movement of armies and in the common business of 
life. What numbers of ferries, bridges and pontoons 
it would have saved ; but somehow these wonderful 
feats were all performed a long time ago, and the secret 
has been lost, or God has not so much leisure time to 
attend to them as formerly, or has less inclination to 
exhibit his skill in that direction, and people have 
been compelled to use ferries and bridges to cross the 
fetreams. 

After they had crossed over the river, dry shod, and 
were walking along, chatting together, a chariot of 
fire and horses of fire came in between them and car- 
ried Elijah up to heaven. The account is slightly 
confused, and says he went up in a chariot of fire, 
and also that he went up in a whirlwind. We don't 
see how it could be both ways. If it was a chariot 
and horses of fire, it was not a whirlwind, and if it 
was the latter, it was not a chariot of fire. He could 
not well go horseback and on foot at the same time. 

But take it all ia all, this is one of the most remarka- 
ble events that ever occurred, and Elijah was one of 
the most remarkable men that ever lived. He was 
probably the only man that ever existed who, with- 
out God's help, or with it, could prevent moisture 
falling to the earth from the air above, in the form 
of rain and dew for the space of three years. He wai 



18 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

perhaps the only man who could produce rain at will. 
He is the only one who has increased a handful of 
meal, and a few spoonfuls of oil, so as to furnish tood 
for three persons for Dearly three years. He was one 
of the very few who have raised the dead. In the 
killing business, he was a prodigy; there may have 
been individuals who have personally killed more 
than five hundred and fifty men, but the number ol 
such has been very few. In pedestrianism and ab 
stinence from food and sleep, he surpasses the world; 
in parting rivers with a mantel, very few have equal- 
ed him. In fireworks, he was pre-eminent over all 
who have ever lived. No other man has been able to 
call down fire at pleasure, and burn oxen, men, stones, 
dust, and even water. Could he have lived in this age 
of the world, he might have made an immense for- 
tune as **Fire King." Such feats as he performed 
would be hailed with great applause in all quarters of 
the globe. 

His last feat, of riding up into the ethereal blue — 
we know not how many hundred miles — in a chariot 
of fire, and with horses of fire, far transcends all his 
other performances. Of the countless billions of be- 
ings who have trod this earth, and who, when the 
cares and duties of life were over, have died from old 
age, disease, accident or violence, and the elements 
composing their bodies liave decomposed and returned 
to the fountains whence they came, he is the only one 
who has been conveyed in his crude material body in 
a chariot to the regions of ether far above the earth. 
When the extreme rarity of the upper air is consider- 
ed ; that human beings cannot derive from it enough 
of oxygen to sustain life, that being in it for a short 
time only, deprives a person of muscular and physical 



ELIJAH THE TI9HBITE. 19 

power ; that the pressure of our atmosphere (fifteen 
pounds to the square inch), being chiefly removed, 
the tendency of the blood-vessels, arteries and veins ' 
is to be ruptured, and for blood to burst from the 
mouth and nose, so in that way, if no other, life / 
would thus soon become extinct in the thin air 
above us; — when we remember, too, the intense frigid- 
ity of the ether above tfie earth — estimated by scien- 
tists to be over four hundred degrees below zero — in 
which a human being could not exist a minute ; when 
all these facts are before us, the great improbability 
of this crowning feat of Elijah is strongly presented , 
to the mind. 

Jesus himself could not possibly have believed this 
story of Elijah^s going up to heaven in a chariot, for, 
in the interview which he granted to Nicodemus, he 
expressly declared to that dignitary, that ** No man 
hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down 
from heaven, even the son of man" (John iii: 13), 
Now one of two things must be true : that this story 
about Elijah going up to heaven is all a mistake, or 
Jesus littered a falsehood, and we will leave it for our 
Christian friends to decide which it is. Such discrep- 
ancies and contradictions in the book called the 
**word of God" are by no means unusual. Large 
numbers of them can be pointed out. By a passage 
in 2d Chronicles, xxi: 12, it would seem, also, that it 
was untrue that Elijah went up to heaven at the time 
here narrated, or, if he did, that he came back again, 
for it says he sent a writing to Jehoram, the son of 
Jehosaphat, king of Judah, and this could not have 
been true till seven years after the death of Ahaziah. 
We lionfess that we are unable to satisfactorily ex- 
plain this disagreement in Bible history, unless upon 



20 ^ ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 

the basis that it is a book of great inaccuracy, and 
cannot be relied upon. 

The most reasonable conclusion we can arrive at, is 
that the entire story is a fiction, "written by some un- 
known person, who knew nothing of the laws and 
forces of nature, and who was ignorant of the truth 
that everything in the Universe is governed by uner- 
ring and unchangeable laws, but who supposed them 
to be controlled by the notions and whims of a fickle 
Providence. 

Bible reverers of course think these events were 
special miracles, and were performed to carry on 
God's work, and to effect great good in the world. In 
this case, however, it is very diflSicult to see where any 
special good was accomplished by the impossible 
things Elijah was said to have performed. Ahab and 
his Queen Jezebel, were not converted ; they continu- 
ed to be ungodly while they lived, the worship of 
Baal was continued, the people did not materially 
change their course of life. Succeeding kings which 
ruled over Israel and Judah, continued to do wicked- 
ly and to die in their sins ; the people were no better, 
and the efforts and performances attributed to Elijah 
eeem to have produced no permanent good results, 
and thus the outlay of such miraculous power afford- 
ed no adequate returns. 

In all this business this truth is indisputable. In 

most cases where the laws of nature were set aside, 

and natural impossibilities were said to be perform- 
ed, it was in the age of ignorance and superstition ; 
and as knowledge and education spread in the world, 
and as the truths of science illumine the minds of 
men, such impossibilities as were ascribed to Elijah 
no longer take place, nor are they believed by intelli- 
gent people. 



-c^ 



Dc'^ 



CHRISTimilTlf A BORROWED SYSTEM, 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



To convince the candid examiner that the Christian 
religion is made up from religious systems which ex- 
isted many centuries prior to it ; that it had not a di- 
vine origin ; that it was not a dispensation from heav- 
en, and that it was not only man-made and of human 
origin, but that in every essential particular it is a 
mere plagiarism, a reconstruction from the dogmas 
and superstitions of older heathen nations — no 
more nor less than a revised variety of paganism — it 
is only necessary to study the pages of history bearing 
upon the subject. 

I. We find, as we have shown in previous articles, 
that the fundamental belief in the ministration of the 
Son of God and of a crucified Savior offered up as a 
sacrifice for the sins of the world, was old in many 
nations at the dawn of the Christian era. The world 
has had not less than two score of Saviors, one half 
of whom were said to have been crucified, and Jesus 



3 CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 

was the last of the number. It cannot be consistent- 
ly claimed he was the original Son of God, the orig- 
inal Savior, the original sacrifice and atonement which 
was ofiered up for the salvation of the world, when 
so large a number of Saviors and Redeemers pre- 
ceded him, some three hundred, some five hundred, 
and some twelve hundred years before his time. 

11. We find that all the doctrines, dogmas, prac- 
tices, ordinances, sacraments, ceremonies and observ- 
ances of the Christian Church, were taught, impress- 
ed and enjoined by various pagan teachers centuries 
before Christianity existed. This being the case, how 
can its devotees, with any degree of truth, or a 
semblance of consistency, claim theirs to be the only 
original Simon-pure religion ever vouchsafed from 
God to man ? Can it be possible, their God or his 
Son in devising a grand plan of salvation by which 
the world were to be saved from endless torments, 
found it necessary to make up a ** patch-work" sys- 
tem, taking a little here, borrowing a little there from 
old pagan errors and superstitions that had existed 
centuries before ? Is it true, that a God of infinite 
knowledge, power and wisdom could not originate a 
system of his own, and not be compelled to take the 
silly inventions and absurdities of ignorant and un- 
progressed men ? 

III. We find, too, that the teachings and in- 
culcations of Jesus, which his followers deem so 
grand, so sublime, so transcendantly beautiful and 
godlike — his moral maxims, which have been pro- 
nounced wholly unequalled in the world, as well 
as other moral maxims equally as good, were utter- 
ed and enjoined by other reformers and other demi- 
gods hundreds of years prior to his time. 



CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 3 

These facts can be easily proved, and they conclu- 
sively show that Christianity is not an original sys- 
tem, that it had not a divine origin, but that its fea- 
tures and doctrines were all devised by men and bor- 
rowed or stolen from the heathen ; its boasted claims 
of originality and heavenly parentage, are completely 
overthrown and scattered to the winds. 

Limited space will not permit our now adducing 
proofs at length of these propositions. We can merely 
name the Saviors the world has. had at different times, 
give some of the rites, ceremonies and creeds borrow- 
ed from Pagans, and point out a few of the morals 
and sentiments attributed to Jesus, which were much 
earlier taught by others, leaving a fuller consideration 
of the subject for another occasion. 

I. The world's Saviors have been numerous ; they 
have been believed in in many different countries, and 
some run far back into antiquity. Here are the names 
of a portion of them : 

1. OhrictnaorChrishna.of 23. Hil and Feta, of the 

Hindostan. Mandaites. 

2. Buddha Sakia, of India. 24. Universal Monarch, of 

3. Zoroaster, of Persia. the Sibyls. 

4. Crite, of Chaldea. 25. Ischy, of Formosa. 

5. Baal and Taut, of Phoe- 26. Pythagoras, of Samos. 

nica. 27. The Holy One. of Xaca. 

6. Thammuz, of Syria. 28. Divine Teacher, of Pla- 

7. Fohi and Tien, of China. to. 

8. Zulis, of Egypt. 29. Adonis, of Greece. 

9. Indra, of Thibet. 30. Alcestos of Euripides. 

10. Devatat, of Slam. 31. Hercules, son of God of 

11. Adad, of Assyria. Alcmena. 

12. Prometheus, of Caucas- 32. Apollo, son of Isis. 

sius. 33. Hesus and Bremrillah. 

13. ^sculapius, of Egypt of the Druids. 

and Greece. 34. Odin, of Scandinavia. 

U. Wittoba.of Telingonese, 35. Alcides, of Thebes. 



4 , CHRISTIANITY A BOKROWED SYSTEM. 

15. Xamolxis, of Thrace. 36. Thor, son of Odin of the 

16. Zoor, of the Bonzes. Gauls. 

17. Atys, of Phrygia. ' 37. Salivahand, of Bermu- 

18. Bali, of Afghanistan. da. 

19. Jos, of Nepaul. 38. Gentant and Quexalco- 

20. Mikado, of the Sintoos. ta, of Mexico. 

21. Beddru. of Japan. 39. Ixion, of Eome. 

22. Cadmus, of Greece. 40. Quirinius, of Rome. 

This list of Saviors can be considerably extended, 
and iiot-exhaust the entire number, but probably here 
are enough for all practical purposes to redeem one 
world from the curse of angry gods, and if this num- 
ber cannot save it, perhaps it will have to be lost. 

Several of these Saviors were said to have been be- 
gotten of God and born of virgins. Half the number 
were crucified for the salvation of the world, dying 
in great agony ; and all were said to have received 
marked favor from heaven, and were considered 
special mediators and atoning sacrifices for the sins of 
man, and prior to the reputed life and death of Jesus. 

II. That the traditions, rites, ceremonies and dog- 
mas of Christianity were copied or purloined from 
older religious systems, is easily seen : 

1. The birth of many of the Saviors of the ancients 
were claimed to have been pointed out by the stars. 

2. Several of them were said to have been born in 
a stable and in a manger. 

3. The birth of a number of them were announced 
by angels to shepherds. 

4. Wise men or magi were claimed to have visited 
them in their early infancy, and to have worshiped 
and made them presents. 

5. The 25th of December was the birthday desig- 
nated for several of them, and has been a special 
day for feasts and ceremonies in commemoration and 



CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 5 

in honor of the sons of gods for thousands of years. 

6. The titles of the Heathen Saviors were much 
like those claimed for the Judean Savior. *'The 
Most High," "the Lord of Life,'* '* Holy Living God," 
*^Sonof God," '^Mediator," *'Savior," ^'Redeemer," 
'^Redeemer of the World," *'the Lamb of God," 
'Uhe Earn of God," "the Holy Lamb," ''the True 
Light," *'the Sun of Righteousness," **True Light 
of the World," '^ Light of Men," ^* Guide to the 
Erring," **Advocate with the Father," are some 
among the great number of titles given to the pagan 
Saviors. 

7. The legend of the Savior being saved from de- 
struction when all the other infants were killed — as 
in the time of Herod — was handed down from cen- 
turies before that date. 

8. The retirement and forty days' fasting of the 
Savior is an ancient heathen legend. 

9. The performance of miracles was attributed to 
nearly all the Saviors, and greatly dwelt upon. Sev- 
eral raised the dead. 

10. The older Saviors had disciples, whom they led 
about over the country, whom they taught, and whose 
feet they washed. 

11. They taught multitudes in the villages, on the 
highway, in the fields and in the wilderness. 

12. At the crucifixion of some of them, the sun 
was said to have been darkened and earthquakes to 
have taken place. 

13. Several of the demi-gods were said to have de- 
scended into hell after their crucifixion. 

14:. The claim that they arose from the dead, from 
the grave and from the sepulchre was accorded to a 
number of them. 



6 CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 

15. The miraculous ascension into heaven was 
claimed for a part, at least, of the Oriental Saviors. 

16. The doctrine of "the Trinity'* is a thousand 
years older than Christianity. 

17. The Holy Ghost idea came from India. 

18. The belief in a Devil originated in heathen 
lands. 

19. The cross, as a religious symbol, was used hun- 
dreds of years before Christ, in India, Thibet, Egypt 
and other countries. 

20. Immortality of the soul was first taught by pa- 
gans. 

21. The personalized idea of the '*word," or ** lo- 
gos," the creator, as used by St. John, was of Oriental 
origin. 

22. Baptism by water was early practiced in India 
and Persia. 

23. The Holy Ghost descending in the form of a 
dove, is an ancient Eastern legend. 

24. The Sacrament of the Eucharist came from the 
pagans. 

25. Anointing, with oil was practiced from time 
immemorial. 

26. The worship of demi-gods — as we have seen— 
was of heathen origin. 

27. Belief in saints and the reverence of them, 
dates back many centuries before Christianity. 

28. The doctrine of future rewards and punish-^ 
ments was first taught by pagans. 

29. A great and final day of judgment originated in 
heathen countries. 

30. The belief in the resurrection of the dead ia 
much older than Christianity. 



CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 7 

31. The belief in angels and spirits was held by 
inan> pagan nations thousands of years ago. 

32. Fasting and prayer were of Eastern origin. 

33. The power to forgive sin was taught by heath- 
ens. 

34. A belief in bibles being the word of God ex- 
isted in many pagan countries, and they have several 
bibles older than the Jewish book. 

35. The *' second birth " was first taught in Heath- 
endom. 

36. Confession and absolution of sin were of pagan 
origin. 

37. Monasteries and monks existed hundreds of 
years in Central Asia before the>era of Christianity. 

38. The order of the Priesthood long existed in all 
pagan countries. 

39. Eepentance and humility were enjoined by the 
ancients. 

40. The efficacy of prayer directed to the gods, was 
early taught in all heathen lands. 

In view of the fact that the entire system of Chris- 
tianity was copied, borrowed and appropriated from 
pre-existent systems, we are led to wonder at the 
dearth and sterility of the minds of its founders in 
the line of originality and invention. It would seem 
that an ordinary intelligence would have been able to 
get up a few new ideas, at least. If we take from 
Christianity all that was borrowed from heathen 
lands, there is literally nothing left of it save its cruel 
persecutions and horrible bloodshed, which it seems 
its founders did not borrow from heathen nations, 
and here their originality and invention became ac- 
tive. We shall examine this feature of Christianity 
more fully in subsequent articles. 



8 CHRISriANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 

III. We have room for a small number only, of the 
moral maxims of the pagan Saviors, demi-gods and 
sages, but probably sufficient to show that they con- 
tain the gist of the over-lauded maxims attributed to 
Jesus, and that they were the originals from which the 
later productions were copied : 

1. Menu, nearly a thousand years B. C, said: **Let 
no man be offended with those who are angry with 
him, but reply gently to those who curse him." * 'En- 
dure injuries and despise no one." *' Commit no 
hostile act for your own preservation." 

2. PiTTACUs taught 650 years B. C, ''Do not to 
your neighbor, what you would take ill from him." 

3. Confucius taught 500 years B. C, "Do unto an- 
other what you would have him do unto you, and do 
not to another what you would not have him do unto 
you. Thou needest this alone. It is the foundation 
of all the rest." "Desire not the death of thine ene- 
my." "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first prin- 
ciples." "When you have faults, do not fear to 
abandon them." "To subdue one's self and return 
to propriety is perfect virtue. " 

4. Christna thus taught: "He is my beloved servant 
who is the same in friendship and hatred, in honor 
and dishonor, in cold and in heat, in pain and in 
pleasure ; who is unsolicitous about the event of 
things ; to whom praise and blame are as one ; who is 
of little speech, and is pleased with whatever comes 
to pass ; who owneth no particular home, and who is 
of a steady mind." "He who can bear up against 
the violence produced by lust and anger in this life, is 
properly employed and a happy man. " 

5. Buddha thus taught : "Let a man overcome 
anger with love ; let him overcome evil by good ; let 



CHRISTIANITY A BORllOWED SYSTEM. 9 

him overcome the greedy by liberality; the liar by 
the truth." **Not to commit any sin ; to do good and 
purify one's mind, that is the teaching of the awak- 
ened/* 

6. Thales, 464 years B. C, said: **Avoid doing 
what you would blame others for doing." ** Culti- 
vate friendship for an enemy." "Be kind to your 
friends, that they may continue so, and to thine ene- 
mies, that they may become so." *' Prevent injuries 
if possible; if not, do not revenge them." *'Be to 
everybody kind and friendly." *' Speak evil of uo 
one, not even thine enemies." 

7. Bias, one of the noted seven wise men of Greece, 
nearly 600 years before Christ, taught thus : V'lt is a 
proof of a weak and disordered mind to desire impos- 
sibilities." '* The greatest infelicity is not to be able to 
endure misfortunes patiently.'* "' Great minds alone 
can support a sudden reverse of fortune." ^*The 
most pleasant state is to be always gaining." *'Be 
not unmindful of the miseries of others." **If you 
are handsome, do handsome things ; if deformed, 
supply the defects of nature by your virtues." ''Be 
slow in undertaking, but resolute in executing." 
** Praise not a worthless man -^jr the sake of his 
wealth." "Do all the good you can, and whatever 
good you do, ascribe the glory of it to the gods." 
**Lay In wisdom as the store of your journey from 
youth to old age, for it is the most certain posses- 
sion." 

It is claimed that he wrote 2000 verses of similar 
moral maxims. 

8. Pythagoras thus taught : ** Every man ought to 
speak and act with such integritj^ that no one would 
have reason to doubt his simple affirmation." *' It is 



iO CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 

impossible he can be free who is a slave to his pas» 
sions." **To revenge yourself on an enemy, make 
him your friend." 

9. Socrates taught : '* Return not an injury if you 
have received one." *' Return not evil for evil." 

10. Plato, the Grecian, taught thus : *'The unright- 
eous man, or the sayer and doer of unholy things, 
had far better not yield to the illusion that his roguery 
is cleverness." ** For men glory in their shame ; they 
fancy they hear others say of them, * these are not 
mere good-for-nothing persons, burdens on the earth, 
but such as men should be who mean to dwell safely 
in a State.'" *' There are two patterns set before 
them in nature ; the one blessed and divine, the other 
godless and wretched." *' Honor is a divine good, 
and no evil thing is honorable." ** The perfectly just 
man is he who loves justice for its own sake ; not for 
the honors and advantages that attend, and is willing 
to pass for unjust while he practices the most exact 
justice, and will not suffer himself to be moved by 
disgrace or distress, but will continue steadfast in the 
love of justice, not because it is pleasant, but because 
it is right. " 

11. Sextus, over 400 years B. C, taught thus: 
** What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be 
ye also to them." '* Endure all things, if you would, 
serve God." 

12. Aristotle, 380 years B. C, thus taught : '* We 
should conduct ourselves toward others as we would 
have them act towards us." 

13. Aristippus, 365 years B. C. , taught thus: *'Cher 
ish that reciprocal benevolence which will make you 
as t ixious for another's welfare as for your ow^n." 



CHlaSTIA^^ITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 11 

14. Isoc RATES, 838 years B. C, said : "Act toward 
others as you would have them act towards you." 

15. PuBLius SYRUSsaid: " Pardon the offenses of 
others, but never your own." *' You can accomplish 
by kindness what you cannot by force. " ' 'Better over- 
look an injury than avenge it." "It is a kingly 
spirit to return good deeds for evil ones." *' Eeceivc 
an injury rather than do one." 

16. The Essenes enjoined: "Lay up nothing on 
earth, but fix your mind solely on heaven." "Fur- 
bake father, mother, brothers and sisters, houses and 
lands." 

17. HiLLEL, 50 years B. C, inculcated: "Do not to 
others, what you would not like others to do to you." 

18. Antonikus said: "Be to every one kind and 
friendly." 

19. PniLO taught : "It is our first duty to seek the 
kingdom of heaven and its righteousness." 

20. Marcus Aurelius, a Eoman Emperor of the 
second century, but who was a heathen, said : " Be 
cheerful and seek not external help, nor the tranquili- 
ty which others give." "A man must stand erect, and 
not be kept erect by others." " Never value anything 
as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to 
break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to curse, 
to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs 
walls and curtains." "If thou boldest to this, ex- 
pecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with 
thy present activity according to nature, with heroic 
truth in every word and sound which thou uttorest, 
thou wilt live happy, and there is no man able to pre- 
vent this." 

Similar maxims of morality and exalted sentiments 
from the sages and teachers who lived and died prior 



J a CnRISTIA:N"ITY A BORROWED SYSTEM. 

to the Christian era, might easily be quoted to the 
extent of a large volume, but this is not our present 
purpose. We have, however, cited enough, together 
with what we have given our readers in previous arti- 
cles, to show that morals as pure and unexceptionable 
v/ere uttered by numerous teachers, as Jesus is said 
to have promulgated. Conceding to Jesus all the 
praise that may be due him for many of his utter- 
ances, candor and truth compel the averment that his 
best sayings were not original with him, and if they 
were not absolutely borrowed, they were certainly 
used by others long before him. 

"We see in the above extracts as much to commend 
and revere as in the teachings of the Nazarene, and 
less that is objectionable. As much as may be said 
by the admirers of Jesus in favor of his inculcations, 
he certainly taught some doctrines that would, if car- 
ried out, not tend to the benefit of the world. For in- 
stance, his charge to '* take no thought for the mor- 
row,'' would prevent enterprise, provision for the 
future, and throw man back into a state of idleness 
and objectless barbarism. His instructions to give 
a man a cloak if he steals a coat, is simply a premium 
for crime. The turning of the left cheek to be 
smitten if the right is thus attacked, would be 
craven, unmanly and productive of no good. The 
scourging and beating of money-changers was not 
extremely lamb-like. Getting angry at a fig tree, and 
cursing it because it did not bear figs at the wrong 
season of the year, did not indicate forbearance, dis- 
cretion or good judgment. 

We cannot see that the teachings of Jesus possess 
any superiority over those of the sages who lived be- 
fore him. They appear no more godlike, no more ex- 



CHRISTIANITY A BORROWED SFSTEM. lo 

alted, and no more inspired than the maxims of his 
predecessors. As his were subsequent productions, 
they cannot be the original, ^and they sound much 
like plagiarisms and piracies. 

From what is here shown, but one conclusion is 
possible, and that is, that the system of Christianity 
is of a composite character, and was made up of the 
dogmas, legends and traditions of the older heathen 
systems which preceded it ; and that it is only Pa- 
ganism in a revised form. 

And it is this system of revised ancient dogmas 
and absurdities, that costs this country $200,000,000 
annually ; and the return it yields in education, id 
intellectual growth, in the knowledge of Nature, in 
the laws of the Universe, and in real good to the peo- 
ple, is meagre indeed. We hail, however, the light 
of science and truth, which will ultimately drive all 
pagan dogmas from the world. 

The foregoing references and quotations are from 
Sir Wm. Jones' Asiatic Besearches^ Max Muller, Ja- 
colliot, Taylor's *' Diegeais," Higgins' "Anaclypsis," 
and last, but not least. Graves' '*The World's Sixteen 
Crucified Saviors," a recent publication, and a most 
valuable work touching the subject here considered. 



Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 45.] 



ELISHA THE PROPHET. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



In reviewing the wonderful characters mentioned 
in the Bible and the wonderful achievements they 
accomplished, Elisha the Prophet must by no means 
be omitted. He was a man of such remarkable abili- 
ties and one who performed such extraordinary feats 
that he can not be overlooked. 

At the time Elijah the Tishbite found him plow- 
ing with twelve yoke of oxen, and after boiling the 
flesh of one yoke of the team with the harness, trap- 
pings and implements, and giving the flesh to the 
people to eat, Elisha followed his master Elijah. Not 
much is said of him until they parted, at the time when 
Elijah went up bodily into the air in a chariot of fire, 
or a whirlwind, or both, or neither. It seems Elijah 
threw his mantle down to Elisha at the time he took 
his aerial flight, though we presume before he had 
gone many miles he found it so cold that he wished 
he had his blanket again to keep him from freezing. 
If however, he was riding in a chariot of fire he might 



2 



ELISHA THE PROPHET. 



have found it quite warm enough for comfort, espe- 
cially for the parts of his body which came in immedi- 
ate contact with the chariot. 

When Elisha found himself alone, he gathered up 
the mantle his master had thrown to him and he rent 
his own clothes, making two pieces of one. He then 
retraced his steps to the river Jordan and performed 
his first feat worthy of mention, by smiting the waters 
with Elijah's mantle, whereupon tlie waters at once 
divided as they had done a short time before, when 
Elijah smote them, piling up like walls on each side, 
so that Elisha walked over on dry ground. Of all 
the rivers in the world, the Jordan was the most ac- 
commodating. On three occasions we are told its 
waters thus separated at the wish of man, walling up 
in a most marvelous manner, while no other, among 
the hundreds of rivers in the world have ever acted in 
this manner. 

The second astonishing feat which Elisha perform- 
ed was the ''healing" or purifying of a spring of 
water, by throwing a little salt iuto it, by which pro- 
cess, waters that before were perfectly worthless, unfit 
for use, and which had rendered the adjacent land 
entirely barren were made pure. The salt did the 
business; not, however, from any chemical action pro- 
duced, but by the peculiar manner in which the pro- 
phet deposited it. Another man might have deposited 
precisely the same amount of salt and in the same place, 
but it would have had noefltect; it took the prophet 
to perform this little manipulation. As, however, 
the eflfect produced was a good one, as the waters 
were made pleasant and healthful, and as the land was 
reclaimed, we can only speak favorably of his labors 
on this occasion. 



« 



ELISHA THE PROPHET. 6 

His third feat was of a different character, and one 
Qo benevolent, humane, kind-hearted person could 
commend. It seems he was on his way to Beth-el, 
when a number of children came out of the city and 
in a thoughtless, childish way sang out to him, "Go 
up thou bald head." It, perhaps, was not the height of 
good manners to thus speak to a wigless old man, 
and a stranger, but we cannot for a moment see how 
those words could possibly injure him, or why they 
should have seriously offended him. But they 
seem to have made the good man extremely angry, 
and he turned back and looked upon them savagely 
and cursed them in the name of the Lord. The 
words he uttered are not given, but we doubt not, as 
he "cursed," that they were very much worse than 
the harmless words the children had used. Sad to 
relate, ^ soon as these curses had escaped the lips of 
the man of God, two she-bears came out of the woods 
and tore forty-two of the little children all to pieces. 
We must say this was one of the most cruel, heart- 
less and diabolical pieces of business ever performed ; 
that the thoughtless prattle of children should be 
punished by tearing forty-two of them by wild beasts, 
is most abhorent to every sentiment of sympathy and 
kindness in the human breast. If Elisha was the 
author of this cruelty, it is sufficient Xo cause his name 
to be eiecrated and abhorred to the latest moments of 
time as a heartless monster and a cruel demon. If 
the Jewish Jehovah was the author of this terrible 
conduct, he is equally culpable, and we cannot char- 
acterize such savage, unfeeling torture towards little 
children on his part, in any milder terms than in the 
case of his prophet. 

The fourth memorable feat which Elisha performed 



4 ELISHA THE PROPHET. 

was of a more praiseworthy character — the production 
of a large quantity of water, without wind or rain. 
There had been a great scarcity of water for men and 
cattle, when he thus produced it in immense quantity, 
so that the whole country was fully supplied. In one 
respect Elisha seems to have transcended Elijah; the 
latter could produce water by causing rain to fall, 
but Elisha could bring abundance of water without 
rain. The process by which he performed this mar- 
vel is not divulged, and the world is left in ignorance 
how one man could make so much water. 

The fifth wonder this man performed was in the 
manufacture of oil. He instructed a widow who had 
a pot of oil, to borrow all the vessels she could from 
her neighbors, and by his directions she filled them all 
with oil by pouring into them from the one vessel she 
had, which was so supplied, while she poured, as 
not to be exhausted till all were filled to the brim, 
as long as there were vessels to fill. What a pity that 
she could not have had a dozen or two of the large 
tanks we have seen in the Pennsylvania oil regions! 
What an oily time there would have been ! Here was 
a secret richly worth knowing. It would exceed in 
value a flowing oil well. We know several soap 
makers who would give a large sum of money for 
the recipe enabling them to produce oil in this man- 
ner. 

The sixth labor was not so remarkable, or at all 
events was within the scope of his natural powers, 
and similar operations are frequently performed by 
*' men of God " in our own times. The prophet, in 
occasionally passing by a certain lady's house who had 
an aged husband, got in the habit of calling upon 
her, as his business led him in that direction, and he 



i 



ELISHA THE PROPHET. 5 

soon became a favorite with the lady, and she caused 
to be prepared for him a little chamber to ' * turn into" 
whenever he came that way. She placed a bed, a 
table and a candlestick in his little chamber, thus af- 
fording him a comfortable place to enjoy himself in, 
during his frequent friendly visits. All this, we say, 
was done at the instance of the woman who con- 
tracted a warm friendship for the Prophet. Her hus- 
band, we repeat, was a very old man, and though she 
was a large woman, and doubtless robust and healthy, 
she had no children. The Prophet noticed all this, 
and came to her relief. He one day sent his servant, 
Gehazi, to call her to his room, and, after holding a 
short conversation with her, and they passed a limit- 
ed period in each other's society, he assured her that 
in due time she would have a child, and he, be- 
ing a prophet, could of course speak with certain- 
ty. Sure enough, in about nine months she had a 
son. The prophet was right, and here we have an- 
other remarkable exemplification of the great gift of 
prophecy. 

We mention this matter of the large woman having 
a child, not as being anything very wonderful in it- 
self. Though her husband were one hundred years 
of age, while she was fortunate enough to have a 
" man of God" in the house, all the minor difficulties 
could be surmounted. We merely mention it, as it 
leads to, and is connected with the Prophet's seventh 
great feat. 

When the woman's son got to be a lad large enough 
to run in the fields, he was one morning taken with 
a bad headache, and was conveyed to his mother. 
She held him in her lap till noon, when he died — or 
at all events appeared to die. The mother took the 



6 ELISHA THE PROPHET. 

child and laid him on the Piophet's bed, and then 
hastened without delay to Mount Carmel to inform 
the Prophet of the sad event. He knew her at 
once when she was still some distance off, and sent 
Gehazi to enquire how she and the boy were. She 
was not long in informing him how it was with the 
lad, and he soon concluded to return with her. He 
sent his servant on ahead to lay his -staff upon the 
body of the boy, to see if it would restore him, but it 
had no effect. When he arrived, however, he lay 
upon the boy, putting mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, 
and hands to hands. The body of the child soon be- 
gan to grow warm, and he sneezed seven times and 
opened his eyes, a pretty good sign that if he had 
been dead he was so no longer. 

Here, again, Elisha showed himself equal to his 
preceptor, Elijah. If one had raised the dead, so had 
the other. But as we have not faith enough to believe 
that anyperpon really dead has ever been made to live 
again, we claim the right to think that if these stories 
are true at all, they were merely instances of suspend- 
ed animation, and that the warmth of the prophets* 
bodies and their magnetism had favorably affected 
those lying in a comotose, or cataleptic state, by 
which means respiration and circulation were restor- 
ed. The lad, at all events, was resuscitated ; and the 
Prophet afterwards showed his partiality for the 
mother and child, when a seven years' famine came 
upon the country, by sending them away to the land 
of the Philistines, where there was plenty ; and also 
in recovering her property for her upon her return. 
It is not stated what became of her aged husband, but 
it is altogether likely that he died. 

ElJsha's eighth feat was to destroy the poisonous 



ELISHA THE PIIOPHKT. 7 

effects of some wild gourds which had been used 
with herbs io make pottage for the sons of prophets, 
amounting to one hundred in number, and who, by 
the by, on account of the scarcity of provisions, had 
become very hungry. He neutralized the poison by 
sprinkling a little meal in the pot — a simple and easy 
way, to be sure ; but if another man had put it in, it 
would, probably, have done no good. 

The Prophet's ninth feat was the curing of Naaman 
of leprosy, by hydropathic treatment, but. since cures 
as remarkable have been made by Priessnitz and his 
disciples, it is unnecessary to dwell upon the treat- 
ment here. One thing, however, Elisha did, which 
Priessnitz could not do, and that was to transfer a 
disease from one person to another, as the Prophet 
did, by fastening on Gehazi the leprosy which he re- 
moved from Naaman. 

Elisha's tenth wonder was a performance of no 
mean pretensions. Several men were felling trees on 
the banks of the Jordan, when one of them accident- 
ally lost his axe in the river, and of course it imme- 
diately sank to the bottom. The unfortunate man be- 
wailed his loss, more especially as the axe was a bor- 
rowed one. This was certainly creditable to the fel- 
low, for there are many who would care less about 
losing a borrowed axe than if it were their own. The 
Prophet, however, soon made it all right by throwing 
a stick into the water, thereby causing the axe to float 
on the surface. This is, unquestionably, a difficult 
trick to perform, as iron and steel are some ten times 
heavier than water. If any one doubts the difficulty 
of performing the feat, let him throw an axe into the 
river, and see how hard a job it will be to make it 
float. Nature's laws, of course, had to be set aside, 



8 ELISHA THE PROPHET. 

aud the .force of gravitation had to be suspended, to 
cause an axe, unaided, to float upon the surface of a 
river ; but who knows what a man of God cannot do? 

As his eleventh great achievement, may be mention- 
tioned his causing, by prayer, the eyes of a young 
man to be opened, so that he saw mountains full of 
horses and cliariots of fire about the Prophet, and 
then by prayer causing blindness to fall upon a multi- 
tude. The first might have been a mere illusion, and 
we hope the last was only temporary blindness. 

As great as this man was, and as much power as he 
possessed, old age and disease at last came upon him, 
and be died. He was not taken up into heaven in a 
carriage, as his predecessor had been, but was buried 
like an ordinary individual ; but to show what re- 
markable virtue existed in his very bones, it may be 
stated, as the twelfth wonder connected with this re- 
markable man, that after he nad been some time bur- 
ied, and when another body was let down into the 
same grave, the moment it touched the bones of Elisha 
it was instantly reanimated, and stood upon its feet. 
The bones of very few dead men possess this wonder- 
ful power. 

A remarkable fact in the history of Elisha, as well 
as his master, Elijah, may be mentioned. In the 
Book of Kings a great deal is said about the two wor- 
thies, and they seemed to have very much to do with 
the affairs of the kings ruling at that time, and of the 
kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The wonderful feats 
they performed are mentioned in detail. The events 
of their lives seem much mixed up with the affairs of 
State, and the reader would readily suppose they were 
the two most important personages then living. But 
in Chronicles, where the reigns of the same kings, 



ELISHA THE PROPHET. 9 

Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram are given, 
Elislia is not mentioned, and Elijah is named but 
once, and then as having sent d writing to Jehoram, 
-which could not have taken place till some seven 
years after he was said, in Kin^s, to have gone up in 
a chariot of fire to heaven. 

In Chronicles nothing is said about the three years 
without rain or dew (and it would seem that the 
writer of that book ought to have known of the cir- 
cumstance, if such a remarkable event occurred). 
Nothing is said about Elijah's calling down fire from 
heaven and burning a bullock, stones, dirt and water, 
and one hundred men. Nothing is said about his 
slaying four hundred and fifty men with his own 
hands. No mention is made of his paring the river 
Jordan with his mantle, and not a word is uttered 
about his going up in a fiery chaiiot. And not one of 
the w^onderful performances of Elisha which we have 
named, is even hinted at. If Chronicles is a truthful 
book ; if it is a part of the word of God, and if these 
events did really occur, the existence of these men at 
least ought to have been recognized, and their won- 
derful works mentioned. That they were not, is, to 
say the least, a very suspicious circumstance ; and 
this fact, taken in connection with the improbable, 
unnatural and impossible deeds ascribed to them in 
Kings, is enough to make practical, matter-of-fact 
minds reject the entire narrative. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 46. J 



Did Jesus Really Exist? 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



The extreme doubt whether such a person as Jesus 
Christ had a real existence is strengthened more 
and more the fuller the matter is investigated. The 
fact that he never wrote a line that has been handed 
down to posterity, that the world has no possible 
means of knowing any thing about such a personage 
having lived save what is obtained from the unknown 
authors of what are called the gospels of Matthew, 
Mark, Luke and John; and when there is no evidence 
that these books were written before the second cen- 
tury, it can be readily understood that the life and 
character of the individual under consideration is ex- 
tremely mythical, as there is no contemporaneous 
history showing that such a person lived. 

Our opponents frequently quote a paragraph found 
in Josephus, corroborating the claim that such a per- 
son did live at one time in Judea. But Dr. Lardner, 
one of the most eminent Christian historians, loDg 
ago pronounced this an interpolation, a forgery, and 
that it never existed in the original manuscript of Jo- 



8 DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 

sephus. This opinion of Dr. Lardner was also enter- 
tained by Gibbon, litigius, Blondell, Le Clerc, Van- 
dale, Bishop War burton, and Tan,aquil Faber, the 
most of whom are noted Christian authorities. In 
fact the first Christian writers and authors of the 
past, as well as of the presenjt day, unite in agreeing 
that the paragraph alluded to is a forgery. Eusebius, 
in the fourth century, was the first to call attention to 
the spurious passage, and he is generally accredited 
with having inserted the paragraph referrring to 
Jesus. On several occasions Eusebius proved him- 
self amply able to use interpolation, spurious ad- 
ditions and forgeries. Mosheim, in his Ecclesiasti- 
cal History, page 70, in alluding to this charac- 
teristic of the early Christian Fathers, uses this 
language, that "it was not only lawful, but commend- 
able to deceive and lie for the sake of truth and 
piety." It is lamentable that so little reliance can be 
placed upon the authenticity of the Christian writers 
in the early centuries of our era. The fact that they 
were crafty and designing men, and that they used 
their best abilities to build up the new system of 
religion which they had allied themselves to, requires 
no additional proof. 

It is a well-known fact that, in the first and second 
centuries, there were three distinct classes of Chris- 
tians; one the Gnostics, who firmly held that such a 
person or individual as Christ had not had an exist- 
ence as a man in the flesh, and that he was a spirit 
only. The Arians were another class, who admitted 
that there was a man Jesus, but that he was merely a 
human being, and not a God. The third class main- 
tained that he not only existed in the flesh, but that he 
was also the eternal God of heaven and earth. The 



DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 3 

disputes and quarrels between these contending fac- 
tions became very heated and bitter, until finally the 
third class, by strategy and superior numbers, over- 
powered those who denied that such a^ person as 
Christ had had a real existence, and forced them to 
abandon thefield, and it afterwards became a recog- 
nized dogma of the Church that Jesus had not only 
been a man, but, also, was absolutely God. But that 
large numbers in the first two centuries did persist- 
ently and stoutly contend that such a person as Christ 
had not had a real existence in the body, cannot be 
effectually gainsaid, and is well calculated to excite 
o'^r liveliest susDicions. 

la taking into consideration the characteristics of 
ni'^n who have played an active part in differ eat ages 
of vh«5 world In establishing the various systems of 
rtvi^ion and creeds the world has known, it is not 
difficult to appreciate how such a system as Christian- 
ity might have gained a foothold among men without 
the events strictly having transpired which are claim- 
ed. In our own day, we have seen Mormonism arise 
from the merest pretenses and the barest assertions, 
and have seen it within a few decades grow into a 
system that now has very considerable strength and 
has the implicit confidence of thousands. 

Mahometanism is another illustration of this relig- 
ious growth. It originated in the claims, assertions 
and assumptions of an individual, and gradually spread 
over several countries until hundreds of millions 
accepted it as a God-given religion, and they have not 
a shade of doubt but what it is the most divine bequest 
ever made to the world. Those of us who are not under 
the influence of this religion, can easily see where its 
devotees are mistakea, and that fehey have been mis- 



4 DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 

led by designing or deluded leaders. If it is impossi- 
ble for us to feel the same veneration for their creed 
and their superstitions that they do, we can compla- 
cently and dispassionately view the position they 
occupy, with the disinterestedness of an outside ob- 
server, and can easily perceive the mistakes and falla- 
cies they have made, as well as comprehend the unten- 
ability of the divine claims they set up. 

So it is with Christianity. To those not encircled 
within the influence which it exerts, and who do not 
bow to the demands which it sets up, are able to see 
not only its defects, but the errors it makes in claim- 
ing a direct divine origin. 

When we find that the authorities upon which a 
system rests are defective, and that Ihey do not cor- 
roborate the claims put forth by its advocates, we 
have good grounds to doubt its truth. We remarked 
that the four gospels were unknown till near the close 
of the second century, or rather that there is no proof 
of their having an earlier existence. Irenaeus was 
the first Christian writer who referred to them or rec- 
ognized them as being extant, and he died in the 
forepart of the third century. Other pretended and 
spurious gospels, almost without number, had been 
known prior to this, but they were discarded as 
fraudulent, and those upon which the grand fabric of 
Christianity is founded, were unknown till near two 
hundred years after the time Jesus was said to have 
lived. What an uncertain data to build upon. What a 
fine opportunity was here afforded the early fathers to 
get up the gospel story, or to have it written to order. 
The gospels have been attributed to various Christian 
fathers, as well as to bishops, priests and monks, but 
with what amount of truth it is now imoossible to 



DID JESUB REALLY EXIST ? 5 

demonstrate. It is also claimed that the plot of the 
gospel story was handed down from the Essenes, the 
Therapeuts and the monks of Egypt, and was revised, 
re-written and re-located by Christians in th*. ^arly 
centuries, similar to what Shakespeare dia tyy the 
most of his plays, the plots of which were borrowed 
from the inventions and traditions of earlier times. 

The Nicene Council, i^onsisting of several hundred 
quarrelsome and pugilistic bishops, called together by 
that wholesale Christian murderer, Constantine, which 
assembled in the year 325, in which contentions and 
fights without number took place, took into consider- 
ation the authenticity of fifty or more " gospels," 
written by different individuals, and after indulging 
in the most acrimonious dissensions and fist-fights, 
finally decided by vote whether the different gospels 
presented were the word of God. They rejected all 
but the four now in the Testament, an4 one of those 
was admitted by a single vote ; but it was not until 
the middle of the sixth century that the books now 
composing the New Testament were fully settled 
upon, several of them having been persistently dis- 
carded by previous authorities. Thus, we see, by 
what a frail tenure our boasted *' word of God " 
hangs, and how easy it was for fraud and deception 
to have been practiced in getting it up. 

The facts we have here mentioned, together with 
others we have before alluded to, the close resem- 
blance between Jesus and t4ie numerous demi-gods 
and teachers who preceded him, are quite sufficient 
to shake the confidence of the most credulous devo- 
tee in the actuality of his existence. Christna, Budd- 
ha and others have been considered, but if it is not 
too much like repetition, we will call attention to 



6 DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 

Others who preceded Jesus, and to whom his acts and 
sayings bear a very strong resemblance, 

Alcides, of Egypt, was said to have been born of 
a virgin; to have performed miraculous cures; to have 
converted water into wine ; to have cast out devils ; 
to have raised two persons from the dead ; to have 
restored sight to the blind ; to have made the dumb to 
speak and the lame to walk. For Osiris, also, simi- 
lar claims were made. 

Of Pythagoras, of Greece, his devout followers 
asserted that he was originally a spirit from heaven ; 
that his birth was miraculously foretold ; that his 
mother, a virgin, conceived by a spectre ; that in his 
youth he astonished the doctors by his learning and 
knowledge ; that he could foretell events ; that he 
could subdue wild beasts ; that he could be in two 
places at once ; that he could walk on water ; that he 
could handle poisonous serpents without injury; that 
he cured all manner of diseases ; restored sight to the 
blind ; cast out devils ; allayed tempests ; raised peo- 
ple from the dead, and thousands, almost, of other 
wonderful feats as narrated by Jambilicus. He was 
said to possess a very humble disposition ; to be very 
kind to the poor ; to have fasted and prayed, and that 
he advised his disciples to forsake relatives and houses 
and lands for religion's sake. In precepts, moral les- 
sons and purity of life, there was a great similarity 
between him and Jesus, but the latter is not claimed 
to have existed till the former had been dead five 
hundred years. 

Prometheus was a mythical character, but five 
centuries before the time of Jesus it was held of him 
that he had a miraculous birth, that he had a band of 
disciples; that he taught the best moral precepts; that 



DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 7 

he was finally crucified as an expiation for mankind 
amid signs, wonders, and miracles; that nature was 
convulsed, and that deceased saints arose from theii 
graves; that the sun was darkened and refused to 
shine; that after crucifixion he descended into hell, 
and was afterwards seen to ascend into heaven. 

Apollonius of Tjana, in Cappadocia, had faithful 
disciples and biographers in Dumos and Philostratus, 
who made great claims for this remarkable personage, 
and which were implicitly believed by great num- 
bers of people. That he had a miraculous conception; 
that his mother was a virgin; that all nature was 
subject to his power; that he performed great num- 
bers of miraculous cures; that he restored the blind 
to sight; made the lame to walk; cast out devils; 
raised the dead; read the thoughts of those around 
him; caused a tree to bloom; spoke in languages he 
never learned; that he was transfigured; that he led 
a spotless life; that he did not marry, and opposed 
sexual pleasures; that he spent his time in teaching 
those who gathered around him; that he was a 
prophet, and could foretell events ; that he was im- 
prisoned and loaded with chains; that he was cruci- 
fied midst a displ^ of divine power; that he rose 
from the dead; that he appeared to his disciples after 
his resurection; that he finally ascended up to 
heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, and 
much more of a similar character, and fully equal in 
every respect to what was claimed for Jesus. 

Of Simon Magus, who also existed before Christ, it 
was claimed that he was **in the beginning with 
God" that he existed from all eternity ; that he took 
upon himself the form of man ; that he was the 
*' word " the eon of God ' that he was the second 



8 "^ DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? 

person in the trinity ; that he could control the ele- 
ments ; that he could walk in the air: that he could 
move any bodies at will ; that he raised the dead ; 
that he came to redeem the world from sin ; that he 
was the world's ** Savior," ** Redeemer," and **the 
only begotten of the Father," and that through his 
name the world was to be saved. 

Numerous other ** Saviors " and ** Redeemers," who 
lived before Christ might be named in this connect- 
ion to show the striking similarity which existed be- 
tween him and them, but we have already quoted 
enough to give the reader clearly to understand that 
there were, hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, 
abundance of material of which to spin and weave his 
story ; and that takiiig all the facts into consideration, 
the prior existence of similar claims, and the extreme 
doubt of the authenticity of the gospel narratives of 
Christ, the strongest probability is that such a per- 
sonage as Jesus never had an existence ; or, that At 
he did exist, he was only a common mortal, to whom, 
a century or two after his death was falsely attributed 
by designing, dishonest persons, deific characteristics, 
impossible performances, and moral utterances, after 
the style of the fabulous demi-gods and distinguished 
teachers of older times. 



TRUTH SEEKER LEAFLETS, 

Containing two pages each of terse, trenchant reading 
matter, without redundancy. 

Price by mail, 4 ot«. per doz. ; 25 cts. per hundred ; $2.00 
per thousand. 

D. M. BENNETT, 

t^ Broadway. N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 50.] 



Jonah and the Big Fish. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among all the pious stories to be found in that re- 
markable collection of wonderful tales — the old Jew- 
book — probably none have oftener been referred to 
than the one giving an account of Jonah and the 
whale. Fishermen, like sailors, have from time im- 
memorial been noted as great story-tellers. Their 
** yarns " and adventures have been so incredible that 
they have passed into a proverb. To such extent has 
it been thought that fishermen's and sailors' stories 
are extremely apocryphal, that where an incredible 
tale or impossible yarn has been spun that nobody 
could believe, it has, by common consent, been de- 
nominated *' fishy," or a ''fish story." Among this 
large class of stories, Jonah and the whale, stands pre- 
eminent, the fishiest of all. Yet we are still required 
to believe it, and it is still, Sunday after Sunday, 
preached from the pulpit, because it is bound up in the 
* 'holy book" which we are repeatedly assured contains 



2 JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

"the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." 
We have no idea by whom the story was written, 
where it was written, nor when it was written. It may 
have been 500 years, 1000 years, or 2000 years before 
Christ. In fact, it matters very little where it was 
written, when, or by whom ; it makes no difierence 
with its veracity or credibility. If it is truth it de- 
pends not upon its narrator, and if it is false, all the 
saints in the calendar cannot make it true. 

Our hero is first introduced to us as a prophet, and a 
son of Amittai. Who Amittai was we do not know, nor 
where he came from. We are told that the word of 
the Lord came unto Jonah, saying, ** Arise, go to 
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it." In 
that age of the world the word of God seemed to seek 
out particular individuals and was not free alike to all. 
This was one of the very few cases where the God of 
the Jews seemed to take the slightest interest in the 
people of heathen nations ; the Jews appearing to 
require and occupy all his time and attention. He 
was not only wholly indifferent as to what became of 
the outside barbarians— the nations that were not Jews 
— but he seemed ever to be plotting against them, 
venting his spite upon them and continually aiding 
his special people to slaughter and destroy them. But 
in this case the wickedness of Nineveh troubled him 
greatly, and he made an unusual effort to reclaim them 
from their wickedness. 

Jonah seemed to be a disobedient prophet, and was 
much like the ungoverned children in this age of the 
world, who when told to do a certain thing do directly 
the opposite. Thus Jonah instead of going to Nineveh 
started for Tarshish where he could get away from the 
presence of the Lord. Where in the world Tarshish 



JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 3 

is, or was, no geographer has been able to determine, 
but wherever it was, God seems not to have visited it, 
for by going there Jonah was to escape his presence. 
The prophet proceeded to Joppa where he took pas- 
sage on a boat in the Joppa and Tarshish line and 
paid his fare like a man. In this particular we place 
him ahead of the prophets and priests of our own 
time ; when they travel by boat or by rail they either 
want to go at half-price or be dead-headed through. 
Jonah was no dead-head. 

He was destined, however, to have an unpleasant 
voyage, for the Lord is said to have sent a great wind 
and brought on a mighty tempest so that the ship was 
in danger of being wrecked, and the sailors became 
alarmed. It is not likely this ^^ ind was sent from the 
Lord in any other sense than all winds may be said to 
come from him. Wind is the result of natural 
causes. The rarification of the atmosphere in some 
localities produced by heat, the cold air rushing in 
from other quarters to fill the vacuum, together with 
the electrical or magnetic conditions of the atmo- 
sphere are what produce currents, breezes, gales, tem- 
pests, hurricanes, tornadoes, and cyclones which are 
more or less severe, according to the conditions which 
rule at the time. In the heated portions of the earth, 
in the vicinity of the equator, these intense commo- 
tions of the atmosphere greatly abound ; w^hile in those 
regions approaching the poles, far less so. If a 
destructive storm visits any locality, and does any 
amount of damage, it is short sightedness, ignorance, 
and superstition which induces people to attribute it 
to the anger or vindictiveness of God. It only shows 
they do not understand the forces which control the 



4 JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

Universe, and which produce every result that takes 
place now, or ever has taken place. 

Our man Jonah was doubtless well fitted for a 
sailor, without at all heeding the severity of the storm, 
and though unused to being on water, he was neither 
sea-sick nor alarmed. **He went down into the side 
of the ship " and went fast asleep, while all this com- 
motion and terror prevailed around him. He must 
have been a regular stoic — a man of remarkable 
equanimity of mind to be thus wholly unaffected by 
the danger and the fury of the storm. It proves, at 
all events, that his conscience, for trjdng to get away 
from the presence of the Lord, did not trouble him 
severely. The captain of the vessel, however, in his 
great fear, hunted around and found Jonah and 
waked him up, and asked him what he meant, to be 
sleeping at such a time, and told him he ought to be 
awake, crying to God to save them from destruction. 
After the sailors had been some time engaged in 
throwing overboard such freight and luggage as 
would lighten the vessel, they concluded to cast lots 
to see which man among them had caused this terrible 
storm; as though a man could cause it, and as though 
casting lots would indicate with any certainty which 
man it was. They must have been ignorant and 
illy-informed people indeed, fully illustrating the 
superstition which characterizes sailors even to this 
day. As well might we now try murderers, thieves, 
incendiaries, perjurers and adulterers, by drawing 
straws, throwing dice, playing cards, or flipping 
pennies. It would be merely gambling, to ascer. 
tain whether a man was guilty or not— the most 
uncertain of all ways to establish guilt or innocence. 

Of course the lot fell upon our poor Jonah ; the 



JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

Story could not otherwise have run in the right chan 
nel and the grand denouement could not have been 
as desired by the writer. The ignorant sailors felt 
positive, of course, that Jonah was the man who had 
caused the mischief, and they immediately inlerro- 
gated him as to who he was, where he came from, 
what people he belonged to, and what he followed for 
a business. Jonah answered their questions in a 
truthful manner, at which the men became still more 
afraid, and asked why he had done as he had, and 
censured him for his base conduct. 

It strikes us that this novel trial of a quiet stranger, 
by the crew of a ship in the height of a raging tem- 
pest, when it would be supposed every man would be 
required to take care of the ship — to man the vessel, 
to reef the sails, to cut away the masts, if necessary, 
and to do the many other things needful to be done 
in such an emergency, was indeed a most singular 
and most improbable proceeding ; but it belongs to 
the "big fish story," and we must take it for granted 
that it was **all exactly so.'* 

When the court which tried Jonah and found him 
guilty enquired of him what punishment should be 
executed upon him for being guilty of having the 
lot fall upon him, he answered like a brave, self- 
sacrificing fellow, and said : *' Take me \ip and cast 
me forth into the sea." We insist, there have been 
few men in any age of the world who would have 
shown, under the circumstances, such a disregard 
for self and personal safety. Our opinion of Jonah 
is elevated, and he certainly was too good a man to be 
used for fish-bait. But they cast him into the sea and 
it immediately became very calm. He was the oil 
cast upon the troubled waters, and his being thrown 



D JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

into the surging billows seems to have had a very 
pacifying effect upon God, and he calmed the winds 
and stilled the waters at once. Is it to be supposed 
that the casting of a prophet or priest overboard in this 
age of the world would still a tempest or calm a storm ? 
Are not the laws which govern the Universe ever hi 
same ? and is not God *' the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever"? 

But how about Jonah ? What became of him ? 
Why, a big fish, whicn providentially happened to be 
on the spot, "took the stranger in" out of the w^et, 
where he could finish his nap at his leisure. As 
Jonah had such a happy faculty of adapting himself 
to surrounding circumstances, it may be supposed 
that his new berth was just to his taste. It was 
unug at all events. 

The book of Jonah, with its forty-eight verses, all 
told, does not inform us what kind of a fish it was 
that took charge of the Prophet ; but Jesus after- 
wards said it was a whale; and the original story says 
God prepared the fish for the purpose. If it was a 
whale, he must have prepared him, for naturalists 
inform us that the true whale cannot take anything 
into its mouth and swallow it larger than four inches 
through. God must have ** prepared" the mouth 
and throat of that particular whale pretty extensively 
by stretching it and enlarging it, to enable him to 
swallow a man at a gulp. A shark could soon dis- 
patch a prophet, but would probably ** chaw " him 
up pretty badly first, and it is to be feared in such a 
case, even with God*s help, the man would not be of 
much use three days afterwards. 

It may be imagined that though Jonah had landed 
safely in the stomach of the fish, it would be difli- 



JONAH AJ^D THE BIG FISH. 7 

cult for him to find air enough there to sustain 
him for three days. If the fish had kept his 
mouth and throat constantly open, so as to let air in, 
it would not have answered, for the water would also 
have rushed in and drowned the poor Prophet at last. 
How he obtained air to breathe, and to enable him to 
keep up a three days cry to his God. is not satisfactorily 
explained. A rubber hose extending from the fish's 
stomach to the open air above the surface of the 
water, after the plan of a diving bell, would have 
been very convenient, but we have no right to sup- 
pose God provided such^n apparatus. 

Notwithstanding the extreme improbability of the 
truth of this fish story, it is amusing to see how easy 
it is for our Christian friends to believe it. It does 
not stagger them at all. If the book had said Jonah 
swallowed the whale, or half a dozen of them, fur 
that matter, they could easy swallow it, Jonah, 
whales and all. There is no limit to their credulity 
and faith. 

Fishes have astonishing digestive powers, and 
whatever is taken into their stomachs is usually 
*' ground up'* or digested in a short time. Under 
this state of things, it is a marvel how Jonah could 
have for three days escaped the strong digestive 
functions of that big fish. He must have been a 
*• tough cuss," or the Lord must have '* prepared" 
the fish's stomach, as he had previously ** prepared " 
its mouth and gullet. Fish, also, are a hungry, 
voracious race, and as this big fish did not digest 
Jonah, and had no room for any other food for 
three days, he must naturally become very hungry. 
And Jonah, too, poor feilow, getting nothing to eat 
for over three days, he must have t)ecome quite hun- 



8 JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

gry also, thus shut up in the dark. Probably God 
*' prepared" Jonah so the fish could not digest him, 
and *' prepared " the fish so he should not become too 
hungry, and ** prepared" Jonah's stomach likewise, 
and for the same purpose. This was, by the way, 
considerable of an enterprise, the Lord took upon 
himself on that occasion. There were several points 
to which he had to direct his attention. As an 
experiment or an adventure, it was probably quite 
amusing to him. 

We are glad to be informed that after God had 
punished Jonah until he was satisfied, for the dis- 
obedience indulged in, that he ''just spoke to the fish," 
and his words immediately acted as an emetic, and 
caused the fish to throw up Jonah on dry land, as good 
as ever. This experience was of much value to the 
prophet and he proceeded without delay to do the 
missionary work allotted him. He went to the ex- 
ceeding great city of Nineveh which was three days 
journey across it, and cried out: '' Yet in forty days 
and Nineveh shall be overthrown." His prophecy 
seems to have had a marvelous efiect, and the king 
soon issued orders that neither man nor beast should 
eat nor drink anything, and that they should all be 
covered with sackcloth. 

A few points to wonder at, and a few questions 
naturally arise in connection with this subject. 

1st. How could a foreigner, as Jonah was in that 
city, and who spoke a different language, succeed in 
making himself understood by the populace ? 

2d. How could a single man preach effectually to a 
city of such immense dimensions, without spending 
months to accomplish it ? **■ 

3d. Why should the Ninevites who worshiped Baal, 



JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 9 

and who never heard of Jehovah, become so greatly 
frightened when Jonah visited them that they should 
so readily abandon their own God and accept Jonah's? 
It was certainly the most effectual missionary work 
ever accomplished. Nowadays it takes several mis- 
sionaries, several thousands of dollars, and sometimes 
a year's time, to convert a single heathen, and he often 
don't stay converted ; but here this man Jonah con- 
verted a large, populous city in a short time, unaided 
and alone. 

4th. Where could so much sackcloth be found to 
cover all the men and women, and beasts also ? Some 
of the merchants must have had an immense stock of 
sackcloth on hand. 

5th. How is it that sackcloth has such a pacifying 
effect upon God ? How does it operate upon his anger, 
his indignation, and his determination ? Why should 
he prefer sackcloth as a garment for men, to any 
other kind of goods ? 

6th. Why should the beasts also be covered with 
sackcloth ? Had they offended God, that they should 
repent before him ? 

7th. How could life be sustained if the people and 
the beasts were forbidden to eat or drink ? What 
harm could there be in horses and asses taking food ? 

Many such questions will arise in the minds of the 
skeptical and those of little faith, but your true be- 
liever takes it all in without a question or a doubt. 
** Blessed are they who believe all they are told, for 
they shall always be easily imposed upon. " 

The most agreeable part of the stoiy is, that the Nin- 
evites quit their evil ways, and that God changed his 
mind about destroying them ; or, in other words, that 
he did not keep the cruel promise he had made. A bad 



10 JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

promise is always better broken than kept. But this 
course of God^s made Jonah very angry. After he 
had prophesied that the cit}^ should be destroyed, he 
wanted the destruction to come without failure or 
postponement on account of the weather, or any other 
reason, and rather than the people should not be de- 
stoyed he preferred to die himself. He retired from 
the city and made a booth on the east side, where he 
could sit in the shade, and see if God would do what 
be agreed to do, 

The Lord seemed to take a little pity on Jonah and 
caused a gourd to grow up in a single night so as to 
shade the disappointed Prophet, but even in this he 
changed his mind again, for as soon as he found Jonah 
was exceed' ngly glad of the gourd, he ** prepared " a 
worm to eat it and to make it wither and die. 
Thus, according to the accounts we get, God is alter- 
nately sending blessings and curses — pleasing^ or dis- 
pleasing. He makes us glad one day with something, 
that is almost sure to be destroyed the next day, thus, 
making our condition worse than at first. 

The finale of this fish story is well known. Nin- 
eveh was not destroyed. The sackcloth, the fasting, 
and the ashes saved it, and caused God to place a 
higher value upon the more than six score of thousand 
souls who were in the city, who could not discern their 
right hand from their left, also *'much cattle." It was so 
Irequent that he destroyed thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, 
and even seventy thousand human beings at a time for 
trifling provocations, that it is refreshing to find that 
he sometimes exercised mercy. But we regret to 
think that his anger toward the Ninevites did not 
continue to be appeased, especially after making 
such an unheard of efluort in its behalf ; for though he 



JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 11 

relented on that occasion, it was but a short time be- 
fore the city was destroyed for a certainty. Accord- 
ing to the chronological notes of the Bible, Jonah 
prophesied 860 years before Christ, and according to 
DioJorus' history, Nineveh was destroyed by Arbaces, 
the Mede, 876 years before Christ, which was sixteen 
years before Jonah's preaching saved it. How sin- 
gular, too, that God should have utterly destroyed it 
so near the time when it had been converted over to 
himself! These little discrepancies, however, must 
not disturb us. " All things," you know, ''are pos- 
sible with God." 

What became of Jonah we are not told. Our opin- 
ion is, that after that adventure he kept away from 
the water. If another fish got after him, and swal- 
lowed him, we have no account that it vomited him 
up, and it is more than probable that his body, or 
portions of it, became, like this story, fish, fishy. 

The principal use made by our Christian friends of 
this remarkable fish story, is, that it was such a 
grand symbol or prototype of the death, burial and 
resurrection of the ''blessed Savior," The quotation 
from Matthew (xii. 40) is well remembered, where 
Jesus says, "For as Jonas was three days and thret 
nights in the whale's belly; so shall the son of man be 
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.' 
But here again is a slight discrepancy; Jesus, accord- 
ing to the record, was not three days and three 
nights in the heart of the earth. He was placed in 
the tomb on Friday night, and Sunday morning he 
was up bright and early, in good time for breakfast, 
only one day and two nights, the most that can be 
made of it. Thus his own words were proved un- 
true. It is barely possible, however, that he found 



12 JONAH AND THE BIG FISH. 

the heart of the earth so uncomfortably hot, that 
he did not wish to stay there his time out. Scien- 
tists assure us that the cefltre of the earth is a 
molten mass of dense, fused, super-heated metals, hot- 
ter than any furnace that can be conceived of. If 
this is so — and it seems very probable — it would not 
be a comfortable place for a God to stay in for three 
days and nights. When we bear in mind, however, 
that it is four thousand miles to the heart of the 
earth and four thousand miles back again, we may 
well suppose he could not stay there very long and 
make the trip in thirty-six hours from the time he 
started, and that, in consideration of the impediments 
to rapid traveling which dense matter would necessa- 
rily present, it must be confessed that he did remark- 
ably well to make the trip in siich quick time — the 
best on record. Yerily, verily, which story is the 
hardest to believe, the " fish story," or the ''heart of 
the earth story ? " 



A Word of Advice. 

Keadeb: If you wieh a live, fearl ^ss, outspoken, Badl- 
cal sheet, subscribe for 

THE TKUTH SEEKER. 

a Weekly Journal of Eree Though and Reform. Does not 
every true Liberal ieel interested in the success of this 
enterprise? And can he have fully discharged his duty, 
who does not aid in its support? 
Published at $2.00 per year, including postage, by 

D. M. BENNETT. 

335 Brondway N. Y. 



[Tkuth Seeker Tracts. No. 54. j 



ftN OFEI LETTER TO BUS CilSl 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



From The Ti^uth Seeker of iV'ou. 1, 1875. 

It is quite possible some people may deem it improp- 
er that a letter addressed to the distinguished person - 
a^ge named above should be written, but we cannot so 
regard it. Countless prayers and appeals are daily 
made to him from all sorts of people, from all sorts of 
places, and upon all sorts of subjects. Every one says 
or asks what he pleases, and no man is a uthorized to 
dictate what shall be said. A prayer is an appeal, 
a letter is another form of appeal. Any individual has 
a right to either form. That a letter is any more im 
proper than a prayer is not obvious, and in this case 
a letter is preferred. It was at first thought best to send 
it in the care of Messrs Moody and Sankey, the noted 
Evangelists now conducting business, for a limited 
periods at the Skating Rink in our neighboring City, 
and, as generally supposed, in the immediate interest of 
the personage in point, as being the place of all others 
where a letter would be most likely to reach him; but 
is there is not a little uncertainty as to the precise 



3 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

locality where a letter or parcel would be sure to reach 
him, so as to receive a reply, it was deemed best to 
insert it in these columns, believing it would attract 
his attention as soon in the pages of The Truth 
Seeker as any other place, from the fact that so many 
worthy people carefully peruse its columns. If there 
is any informality in the mode, it probably will make 
no essential diflerence to the party addressed. He is 
represented as having said *'come unto me all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden.'* Now we labor con- 
stantly, and also are heavy laden — laden with doubt 
and uncertainty on many points, laden, in common 
with many others, with a want of true knowledge, 
which want, is ignorance. This ignorance very gen- 
erally prevails over the entire world. May it be dis- 
pelled ! 

To His Excellency, IMMANUEL J. CHRIST, other- 
wise called ''Prince of Peace,^'' ^'Sun of Blghteotta- 
7ms,'' ''Lion of the Tribe of Judah^' *' Wonderful,'' 
*' Counsellor,'' "The 3Iessiah;' " The Redeemer," 
^'The Savior," "The Bridegroom," " Ihe Lamb of 
God," "Captain of our Salvation," *' Son of God," 
" Son of Man" etc., etc. : 

Respected Sir: Learning from our daily papers 
that it is expected you will pass a few days in our 
immediate vicinity, in company with your agents. 
Moody and Sankey, who are supposed to be in your 
special service, and who have just commenced a 
grand starring engagement through our principal 
cities, in your interest, I embrace this opportunity to 
address you in this manner, hoping I may be able to 
attract your attention and to receive a reply. I am 
in quest of truth, and many say it is to be found with 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 3 

you, and to attain any good gift whatsoever of you, 
it is only necessary to ask. I wish knowledge and in- 
foi^maUon on many subjects, and I hereby make my 
wants known, I trust with due respect and in a prop- 
er spirit. If I have not troubled you latterly as often 
as many do, I hope it will not disparao:e my chances 
of recognition. 

If your memory serves you, you , probably can 
bring to mind, that something over a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago, I was in the habit of addressing you reg- 
ularly four or five times a day, and from one year's 
end to another, but finally coming to the conclusion 
that my appeals were not heard, or that they availed 
me nothing, I discontinued them, thus saving much 
time and breath, as well as disappointment also, and 
losing nothing, so far as I was able to judge. After 
a silence of more than twenty-five years, it is hoped 
this efibrt will be successful; but if it is not, I shall 
not be greatly surprised. 

If you can make it convenient at intervals from 
duty, during these revival times, either during the 
present engagement of Moody and Sankey at the 
Skating Rink in Brooklyn, or at their coming en- 
gagement in January next, at the Hippodrome on 
Fourth avenue, in this city, (formerly Barnum's Cir- 
cus, and afterwards Gilmore's Concert Garden, and 
Shook & Palmer's Lager-beer Saloon,) or if at any 
other time, you can spare a few moments to communi- 
cate with me upon the subject matter of this letter, I 
hope I shall be duly grateful, and I assure you I will 
try to make good use of the information received. 

1 shall not have room in one letter to enquire of 
you all I wish to know, but if I am successful in ob- 
taining answers to these questions, I may sometime 



4 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

address you again, but in any event, I trust I ap- 
proach you in a proper spirit, and that T give no of- 
fence. I wish not to be impertinent, but to indicate 
to you the points upon which I need light. If you 
are truly the source of light, may I not hope to be 
successful ? 

In nearly all the lives and biographies that have 
been written of you, a great lack exists of a descrip- 
tion of the days of your infancy, childhood and 
youth. How is it that the ** Evangelists," who are 
said to have been divinely delegated to write your life 
and teachings, should have been so silent in reference 
to this interesting portion of your existence ? 

Were those items purposely suppressed, or was it 
simply accidental ? 

Should not a truthful record of you have contained 
a full account of your early life as well as your later? 

There is a great uncertainty relative to the origin 
of your existence ; the account we have seems to 
rest largely upoa a dream which it is said your step- 
father dreamed. May I ask you, is that account re- 
liable ? 

Is a dream of such a nature and character — that 
too, when related by a third person — as to safely 
build the faith of a world upon, especially when the 
final salvation of that -^orld, depends upon the cor- 
rectness and infallibility of that faith ? 

Were you begotten by the Creator of the Universe, 
and was he personally present on the occasion ? 

Were you begotten by the same process as all other 
beings have been, who have lived in this world, or 
was it out of the ordinary course of nature ? 

Was your mother psychologized or mesmerized, or 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 5 

Otherwise rendered insensible, or did she retain her 
consciousness? 

Did she participate in the interesting proceding ; 
was she simply passive, or was she overcome by a 
force which she could not resist ? 

Did love have ought to do in the transaction? and 
if so, was it an example of *' free-love?'' 

Did the occurrence cause any scandal in the neigh- 
borhood, and was it generally understood that your 
step-father had dreamed out the true theory? 

If you are part God and part human, can you not 
properly be called a hybrid, a half-blood, an amalga- 
mation or a miscegenation ? 

Your friends, the clergy, assert that you existed as 
an individual from all eternity, and that your beget- 
ting and birth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five 
years ago, was merely a formality for the purpose of 
endowing you with the quality of mortality. Is that 
so? 

Did you, then, retain your consciousness during the 
nine months of your mother's gestation ? If so, may 
I ask, did not such close confinement for so long a 
period become somewhat irksome ? 

Had you full consciousness during the days of your 
infancy? 

Was the star which was said to point out to the 
wise men who sought you in the stable in which you 
was born, a* real star like others, millions of miles 
away, and which are immense bodies of matter, or 
was it a little star gotten up especially for the occa- 
sion, and which moved near the surface of the earth ? 

Was it so important that those men from the East 
should find you, while yet a new born babe, that a 



6 AH OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Star should be delegated to leave its course to point, 
out to them your precise locality ? 

Do you remember the critical period of '* cutting 
teeth " ? 

Was there any **Mrs. Winslow** in those days, to 
prepare '* Soothing Syrup " for the babies ? 

Were you much troubled with coiic, croup, bowel- 
complaint or worms ? 

At what age did you have the mumps, the measles 
and the whooping cough ? Did you have them light 
or severe ? 

Did you wear petticoats when you were little, and 
can you remember your first pair of pants ? 

Can you remember when you first began to run out 
of doors and play with the boys and girls ? 

Did you know, when you was a little boy, that you 
was God, and the Ruler of the Universe ? 

Is it true as narrated in the New Testament, styled 
"Apochryphal," that when you were a small child 
and traveling with your mother, that she placed you 
on the back of a mule that, by enchantment, had been 
changed from a young man, and that you transformed 
him back to a young man again ? 

Is it true that you rolled up clay in the form of birds 
and then made them fly away in the air ? 

Did the water in which your mother had washed 
you, cure two sick children ? 

Did you cause a boy to die because he carelessly 
ran against you ? 

Did you go to school and did you like study f 

Did you learn rapidly? 

Did you know all things from all time, including 
the ordinary branches of education taught in schools, 
or did you have to study and learn like other boys? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 7 

Did you ever play hookey? 

Were you fond of boyish sports ? Were marbles, 
"hop-scotch," leap-frog and base-ball in vogue at 
that time ? 

Did you ever fall in love with any girls of your age, 
and if so did anything serious come of it ? 

How old were you when you commenced working 
at the carpenters' trade ? 

Did you stretch boards, doors, etc.. for your step- 
father when he made them too short ? 

How did you like the carpentering business ? 

If you were God and knew all things past, present 
and future, why did you not get up some such inven- 
tions as sawing mills, planing machines, morticing 
machines, matching; machines, or scroll and circular 
saws, which for the last fifty years have proved 
themselves so valuable in saving labor ? 

Why did you not leave some such invention behind 
you to assist in immortalizing your name ? 

How came you to quit the carpenters* business ? 
Was it not a good trade at that time ? 

Did you like preaching and performing miracles 
better ? 

Have you ever doubted whether your first miracle, 
changing water into wine, at the wedding in Cana, 
was well advised, especially as the guests were already 
drunk ? 

Have you not many times, with sadness, noticed 
the bad effects of intemperance and the undue use of 
intoxicating drinks ? 

Have you ever thought that the miracle alluded to, 
was setting a bad example to young people, and an 
encouragement to wine-bibbers ? 

Did it ever occur to you that it was not strictly 



<9 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

moral and not according to the commandments, to go 
into other people's corn fields on the Sabbath and 
pluck corn, without permission ? 

Upon mature reflection, do you still think you were 
right and reasonable when you got angry at the fig- 
tree and cursed it because it did not bear figs at an 
untimely season of the year ? 

Was it not offering a reward for theft — a premium 
for crime — to demand, when a man's coat is stolen 
that his cloak also should be given to the thief ? 

Do you now think it would be sensible for a man 
to pluck his eye out if he had gotten dirt m it, if it be- 
came inflamed or if any defect in the sight occurred ? 

If a man should have a boil or a felon on his right 
hand, would you still advise him to cut it off ? 

Would it not be better to remove the offending 
disease, rather than destroy the organ or part brought 
into affliction ? 

Do you at present think it was amiable and- filial in 
you to treat your mother with disrespect, as when 
you asked, *' Who is m}- mother ? '' 

May I ask, do you still require your followers to 
hate father, mother, brother, sister, wife and children, 
on your account ? 

Does it afford you any pleasure, for a man to hate 
his own blood relations ? 

Is it a correct principle in morals, that a person be 
required to hate his parents, his brothers and sisters, 
wife and children t 

Do you still think it kind and god-like to damn 
people to endless punishment because they do not 
believe that which they cannot believe ? 

Can a person believe just what he pleases, whether 
convinced or not ? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 9 

Do you Still think the example of mendicancy and 
idleness the best example you could have set your 
fellow mea ? 

Is not the doctrine **take no thought for the mor- 
row," calculated to prevent enter prise, thrift and fore- 
thought ? Would we haye anything to eat in winter, 
if w^e did not prepare for it in summer f 

Was it strictly right for you to instruct your disci- 
ples to take an ass or a mule to which they had no 
right ? 

Was it a mark of amibility and peaeefulness on 
your part to whip, and beat, and scourge the money 
changers and those who sold merchandise in the 
temple ? 

Would you not have a lively time now, were yon to 
scourge with cords all who are engaged in that busi- 
ness ? 

Can you explain the discrepancy between your 
prediction and its fulfillment, as to the end of the 
world, when you said: '* Verily I say unto you 
this generation shall not pass away until all these 
things are fulfilled ? 

Did you not at that time think the end of the world 
was near at hand, and were you not mistaken ? 

When you went without food for forty days and 
forty nights in the wilderness, did you not endanger 
your life ? Can a man now go forty days without 
focnl or drink, and live ? 

When the Devil took you up into a very high moun- 
tain and showed you all the kingdoms of the earth, 
did he carry you, as boys say, *' pig-back," or in what 
way did he carry you ? 

How high was the mountain ? 

Could you see the countries on the opposite side of 



10 AN OPEN LETTEK TO JESUS CHRIST. 

the globe any better for going on to a high mountain ? 

Did you get a good view of Rhode Island and New 
Jersey ? — 

Did you at that time know the earth is a round 
ball, or did the person know it who wrote the ac- 
count ? 

Did you know at the time you were accompanying 
the Devil on this mountain trip, that he was your 
deadliest foe, as well as the great enemy of the human 
race ? 

When you were riding on his back through the air, 
why did you not embrace the opportunity and choke 
the villain to death ? 

Would it not have been the greatest favor you pos- 
sibly could have conferred upon the human race ? 

Would it not have been vastly better than to be 
yourself put to death ? 

Did it please your loving Father better that you 
should die, than his old enemy and creature, the 
Devil ? 

Did your blood pacify his disturbed feelings better 
than the Devil's wo^ld ? 

Does blood actually appease your Father's anger ? 

Did not the blood of bullocks, rams and he-goats, 
formerly have that effect ? 

Does he still have a fondness for blood ? 

Were the chemical constituents of your blood ma- 
terially different from other men's, that it could exert 
a more potent effect upon the anger of your Father ? 

If it was either through the plan of your Father, or 
through the intiigues of the Devil that you were put 
to death, was there not partiality and injustice in the 
business ? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 11 

Did it do your Father any good, or the Devil any 
harm, for you to die ? 

Would it not have been better for your Father, for 
yourself and for the whole world, if the Devil could 
have been the one to be put to death and then had 
remained dead ? 

What was the Devil ever made for ? 

Was it not the greatest mistake, the greatest folly 
that was ever committed ? 

Had there been no Devil, would not everything 
have been lovely with everybody, and would there 
have been any one to vex your Father? 

Does not the Devil get fully nine-tenths of the 
whole human family, and does he not annoy your 
Father and yourself more than all the world besides ? 

Why is it you still suffer him to live ? 

Is it because you need him to officiate as Chief- 
Burner-General in the nether regions of brimstone, 
and to carry out your will in pitching and punching 
and burning poor hapless beings to the latest moments 
of eternity, and who had no hand in bringing them- 
selves into existence or in getting up the vile natures 
with which they are endowed ? 

Is there not reallj^ a tacit, secret understanding — a 
partnership in fact — between the Devil, your Father 
anJ yourself ? 

Does not the Devil carry out the wishes of your 
Father and yourself, in punishing and tormenting his 
helpless victims ? 

Could he be more faithful in your service, if he 
occupied the same throne with you ? 

If men act badly, or fail to meet the approbation of 
your Father or yourself, does not Christian theology 
teach that the Devil torments them for it ? 



12 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Would your grand scheme of salvation be worth 
anything without the Devil ? 

Is not the Devil in the divine programme a person- 
age equally as important as your father or yourself ? 

Could you get along without a Devil ? 

Would the system of theology which we have in 
this country, and which is attributed to you, be worth 
a row of pins without a Devil in it ? 

Could your sixty thousand clergymen in this coun- 
try, or the six hundred thousand in Christendom, get 
along without a Devil ? 

Would their business pay running expenses except 
for a devil to warm it up ? 

Really, after all, considering how much the Devil 
has done towards carrying out the divine plan con- 
cocted by your father and yourself; liow much he has 
done for the'*human race by introducing education, 
science, inventions, innovations, and Freethought, 
into the world, while your clergymen and your 
church have been doing all they could to keep them 
out, is he not after all, a pretty good fellow? 

Is he really as cruel and relentless as the clergy rep- 
resent him ? 

Is it your Father or the Devil that is the most re- 
vengeful and unforgiving ? 

Let me ask you, can you be happy in heaven, seat- 
ed on the throne at the right hand of your Father, the 
four beasts near, with the hundred and forty-four 
thousand saints dressed in white robes, bowing con- 
tinually before your throne, and singing the song of 
Moses and tho Lamb, that song which no man can 
learn ; I ask, can you be happy thus, while you know 
the poor, wretched, unfortunate damned are writhing 
and screaming in the torments of hell ? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 18 

Do not the shrieks of the damned wretches some- 
times penetrate even to your throne and overpower, 
for the moment, that continuous song of Moses & Co. ? 

Can you be completely happy thus surrounded, 
when you know countless millions of poor, weak 
creatures are suffering the most excruciating tor- 
tures ? 

Infidel, as I am, I could not be happy under such 
circumstances, and were I to believe it possible that 
ninety-nine hundreths of the human race are doomed 
to forever suffer such tortures without cessation or 
alleviation, I should heartily curse existence and 
the author of it. 

Would it not be vastly better to allow those pitiful 
wretches to go out of existence than to keep them in 
endless torment ? 

What possible good can it do your Father, yourself 
or any being to punish eternally quintillions of poor 
fallible men and women ? 

Is there no possibility of ending this most wretched 
and damnable business ? 

To return; when the Devil took you up into that 
high mountain, to show you all the kingdoms of the 
earth, and when he offered them to you, did you not 
know that he did not own a foot of them, and that 
they belonged to the estate of your Father ? 

If you knew this, was it much of a virtue in you 
that you did not accept his offer and yield to tempta- 
tion ? 

Do you think it was a sharp thing in the Devil to 
undeAake to play such a game with a God? 

Was not the Devil, who could transport you on to 
the top of a high mountain, equally as large and as 
strong as yourself ? 



14 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Was he the same Devil, or the same sized Devil 
that you subsequently cast out of the wild man you 
found raving among the tombs? 

If that was a full-sized Devil, how could he get into 
a man ? 

Mark says the Devil left the man and went into two 
thousand swine; were there two thousand Devils in 
the man, or did the one Devil divide up into two 
thousand parts ? 

When the two thousand swine rushed down a steep 
place in the sea and were drowned, what became of 
the Devils ? Were they drowned, or did they enter 
the fishes ? 

Mark says all these Devils were in one man, and 
Matthew says there were two men that had the Devils, 
which was correct ? Did Matthew see double ? 

If one told the truth, did not the other tell a false- 
hood ? 

If you sent those Devils into two thousand hogs, 
thus causing their destructioi}, is it strange that tue 
people, when they learned the fact, wished you to 
depart from their coasts ? 

Would any of our Western stock-growers welcome 
your visit now, if you should thus cause the destruc- 
tion of their herds? 

Were those Devils that you sent into the swine the 
same kind as the seven Devils which you extracted 
from Mary Magdalene? 

What was the size of those seven Devils? Where 
did they enter, and where did they make their exit ? 

Is not all this business devilish strange, any Tuay V 

If your death was necessary to the happiness ot 
the world, to the serenity and peace of your Father's 
mind-, if you had to die, that one in ten, or ono in a 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 15 

hundred of poor doomed humanity might escape the 
suffering vouchsafed to all the rest, and by which 
grand process your Father is to be eternally glorified, 
did not Judas play a most commendable part? 

If you had to be betrayed before you could be tried 
and crucified, was not the betrayal most essential ? 

If this is so, is it not wrong to despise Judas and 
hold him in detestation for the important work he 
performed ? 

Should he not rather be canonized by your Church 
as a saint of the first water ? 

How could a single being ever have found salvation, 
had there been no Judas ? 

Were not the Jewish priests who urged on your 
death and destruction, also important factors in the 
grand, divine scheme ? 

Were not the Roman soldiers who performed the 
closing part of the melo-drama, also worthy of spec- 
ial honor and distinction ? 

If you knew the results of your death, in redeem- 
ing a few doomed souls from the burning sea of sul- 
phur, were of such vast importance, why did you 
fco dread the special work you came to perform — the 
glorious death you came to die ? 

Was there ought of fear or faltering in your mind 
and courage when you so frantically reproached your 
Father for forsaking you ? 

Did you really think he had turned his back upon 
you, -when you cried out so piteously, "Eloi, eloi, 

lama sabachthani " (My God! my God! why hast thou 
forsaken me)? 

Do you think you met death as bravely as did 
Socrates, Regulus, and numerous others ol those 
brave heroes of clden times ? 



16 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Should a God, in facing death, have less courage, 
less fortitude, and less equanimity than a man ? 

Did you know that your death would be the most 
glorious event in the whole history of the world t 

Did you consider it any more for you to die than 
for any other individual to pass through the same or- 
deal ? 

Have not hundreds of thousands of men and wo- 
men endured the pains of dissolution with far more 
fortitude than you did, though their sufferings were 
many times greater ? 

Let me ask you was the six hours during which you 
were suspended on the cross suflBicient to take a man's 
life ? 

Did you absolutely die, or was it merely a case of 
fainting or swooning ? 

Did darkness cover the earth in consequence of 
your suspension upon the cross ? Where was the sun 
during those three hours ? 

Was an earthquake also produced in consequence 
of your sufferings, and did the graves open and the 
dead walk out alive and mix again with their former 
companions ? 

If this extraordinary affair really occurred, why 
was Matthew the only one of your biographers to 
notice it, when mere trivial events were minutely re- 
lated by all, and why did not some historian say 
something about it ? 

Did you keep the engagement you made at that time 
with the thief, that he should be that day with you in 
paradise ? 

Did you not, rather, take the opposite direction 
and spend the interim between your death and resur- 
rection in the heart of the earth, according to your 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHBIST. 17 

prediction, or '*in hell," as the Bible and the Apos- 
tles* Creed have it ? 

Did you not find the interior of the earth intensely 
hot, and a very uncomfortable place to be in ? 

If you were to pass three days in the heart of the 
earth did it not necessitate your traveling four thous- 
and miles through dense, super-heated matter to get 
there ? 

Did you not find the great density of matter 
a great impediment to your travel ? 

If it was foretold by yourself and others that you 
should be three days in tbe heart of the earth, how 
could you make two nights and one day to fill the 
bill? 

Are one day and two nights — aggregating at the 
most forty -eight hours — equal to three days or seventy- 
two hours ? 

Had the extreme heat of the interior of the earth 
anything to do with your returning before your time 
was up ? 

Did you not make excellent time to go four thou- 
sand miles to the heart of the earth and return in two 
nights and a day ? Did you have much time to tarry 
there ? 

Let me ask you as to your ascension; did your 
physical body, the same that was laid in the sepulchre, 
ascend ? 

How high did your journey extend 9 

Did you not find the upper air extremely rare and 
intensely cold ? 

Can a physical body of flesh and blood exist for ten 
minutes at a distance of ten miles from the earth ? 

As the earth travels through space at a velocity of 
sixty-eight thousand miles an hour, does that fact 



18 JiS OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

make any difference as to the direction, route or dis- 
tance from earth to heaven ? 

How is it that the four evangelists differ so widely 
in reference to your ascension, Matthew representing 
that you ascended from a mountain in Galilee, Mark 
stating that the ascension took place in a room where 
the eleven were at meat, Luke having it that you led 
your disciples out to Bethany, where you made your 
ascension, while John says nothing about your going 
up at all ? 

How could such an important event in your career 
be so differently stated by the four ? 

If either was right, were not the others wrong ? 

Should not persons divinely inspired to write an ac- 
count of such an extraordinary event be able to agree 
better in their versions ? 

Would such kind of testimony have any value in an 
ordinary court of justice ? 

Could a case of sheep stealing be established upon 
such evidence ? 

Has the great similarity between many characters 
in the heathen mythologies and your own, ever attract- 
ed your attention ? 

Are you not aware that the main facts, or what 
are claimed as facts, in your history appear to have 
been copied from similar legends pertaining to pre- 
existing individuals ? 

Were not Buddha, Christna, Sakia, Zulis, Bacchus, 
Hercules, Alcides, Hesus and several others who 
lived, or w«re claimed to have lived, hundreds of 
years before, said to have been born of virgins and 
to have a god for a father ? 

Should the world hold these personages in holy rev- 
erence because it is said of them, they were begotten 



AN OPEN LETTEK TO JESUS CHRIST. 19 

by gods and without their mothers losing their vir- 
ginity ? 

Have we not as much proof of this remarkable con- 
ception in each of these cases, as in your own, when 
yours only rests on a dream ? 

Can the mere assertion, in either case, be sufficient 
to demand the belief of any sensible person ? 

Was it not said of many of them, that they had 
disciples, to whom they taught excellent morals, and 
before whom they performed wonderful miracles ? 

As the stories about them are much older than 
yours, would it be fair to suppose theirs were copied 
from yours ? 

Were not Christna, Sakia, Thammuz, Wittoba, 
lao, Hesus, Quexalcote, Quirinus, Prometheus, Thulis, 
Indra, Alcestos, Atys, Crite, Bali, Mithra and still 
others, all of whom lived centuries before your time, 
claimed to have been crucified as expiations for the 
sins of the world ? 

Is not the proof that these personages lived and 
died in the manner represented, equally reliable and 
probable as in your case ? 

Were not the believers in those ancient creeds and 
superstitions just as sincere, just as honest, and just 
as virtuous as those who believe in you ? 

If your life and death upon the earth were a divine 
plan, devised in heaven, is it not a little singular that 
it should be so perfect a pattern after so many similar 
schemes previously gotten up by pagan religionists ? 

Is God under the necessity of borrowing his plans 
from barbarians and ignorant heathens ? 

Is not the striking similarities between the various 
mythologies the world has known, enough to cause 



20 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

any thinking person to believe each system was bor- 
rowed from some similar system ? 

As Christianity is the youngest mythology of the 
lot, does it not seem probable that it is wholly a pla- 
giarism ? 

When you uttered your best and grandest senti- 
ments and morals, did you not know that the same 
had been uttered by many, hundreds of years earlier? 

Do you not know it now? 

Do you_not know that what is called the ** Golden 
Rule," was written much earlier and taught by Con- 
fucius, Pittacus, Socrates, Sextus, Isocrates, Hillel 
and others, who all lived before you ? 

Did you give any of these persons credit for any of 
the sentiments borrowed from them ? 

Were not the sentiments and morals taught by these 
old pagans, when the same as yours, equally as worthy 
of veneration and praise as when uttered by yourself? 

Had not nearly every moral sentiment which was 
attributed to you been taught by others before you ? 

Is any given maxim or truth more true, or more 
beautiful for being spoken by a God or a demi-god? 

Is not the same maxim when pronounced by a man 
just as true and as admirable as when from a God ? 

Is it just to transfer to any individual the credit and 
honor that has been earned by another ? 

Would it not be just as right that we should revere 
and honor Confucius, Pythagoras, Plato, and others 
for the excellent morals they have taught, as to 
give you all the praise for inculcating the same ? 

Have you observed the striking coincidences be- 
tween the accounts of yourself and of ApoUonious 
of Tyana, who was born before you, and did not die 
till after you did? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 21 

Are you not aware that he was said to have practiced 
great self-denial, to have given way his worldly pos- 
sessions, to have spent his time in prayer and medita- 
tion; to have had a band of disciples whom he 
kistructed in godliness and virtue; that he performed 
wonderful miracles, among which was raising the 
dead ? 

Are you conscious that the evidence of such a per- 
son having existed, is stronger than of your own, 
and that he traveled more extensively; that he lived 
to be an old man; that he established institutions of 
learning, and wrote many works that were handed 
down to posterity, and which is more than is true of 
you? 

Had this character, by any fortunate circumstances 
— this demi-god, as he was esteemed to be — been 
taken as the Deity of Europe, or the head of its the- 
ology, would not his name have been as widely 
spread and as greatly revered as your own now is, 
and as justly? 

Are you not aware that there is great uncertainty 
relative to the account of your career on the earth ? 

Do you not know that there is no proof of whrt are 
called the "four gospels " being in existence before 
the latter part of the second century ; that none of the 
'* early fathers" ever referred to them or mentioned 
them before Eusebius, who died in the fore-part of 
the third century ? 

With the knowledge we have of the many frauds 
that were committed by the early fathers, (and which 
they claim, too, were right and justifiable) is there not 
good grounds for doubting much of the story about 
yourself ? 

Were there not abundant chances at that time for 



22 AN OrEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

narratives to be gotten up and palmed off as genuine ? 

Were there not more than forty of such gospel 
stories gotten up by different individuals, with about 
as much truth in the one as in the others ? 

Is it not most probable that they were all wrong ? 

Are you not aware that the "four gospels" were 
not decided by the Church to be canonical till the 
fourth century, and that the other books of the New 
Testament were not taken into the Bibie till the sixth 
century, and that the councils of contentious and 
fighting bishops and priests who assembled together to 
decide which and what should be the word of God, 
indulged in a great amount of quarreling upon the 
subject, and that in one contest over the matter, 
one bishop was kicked to death ? 

Is it strange, with these facts before us, that incred- 
ulous people honestly doubt the reliability and divin- 
ity of the book called the Bible ? 

Is it strange that in view of the great similiarity be- 
tween your life and teachings and those of your 
predecessors, that many should doubt the probability 
of your existence ? 

Is it not a fact that all the rites, ceremonies, sacra- 
ments and usages of the creed called by your name 
are traceable directly back to pre-existent heathenism? 

If this is true can there be any harm in the world 
being apprised of it, and understanding the facts as 
they are ? 

If Christianity in the dark ages of the world has 
served a purpose and assisted somewhat in helping 
man to emerge from the mists, falsities and supersti- 
tions of the primitive ages, does it follow that he should 
always continue to hug it to his bosom as truth f 

In fact, is it not time the world discarded all myth- 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 23 

ologies, man-made gods, mental crudities, absurdities, 
monstrosities, falsities, senseless creeds, superstitions 
and impositions ? 

Are not Truth, Science, Eeason, Fraternal Love 
and Human Brotherhood vastly superior to all these ? 

Have not many of the propagandists of your relig- 
ion been most bloody tyrants ? 

Was not Constantine, who murdered many of his 
own family, of this number ? 

Were not Charlemagne, Guy Lusignan, Torque- 
mada, Alva, Philip II., John Calvin, Munzer, Clav- 
erhouse and very many others of the same category? 

Has not the religion called after your name caused 
more bloodshed, more persecution, and more suffering 
than all the other religions of the world ? 

When the terrible slaughters, massacres and mur- 
ders that have been committed in your name and in 
your cause, came to your knowledge, why did you not 
sometimes interpose and prevent those abomina- 
tions? 

Did you approve of that infernal institution called 
the *• Holy Inquisition " which for five hundred years 
cursed the most populous portions of Europe, and be- 
fore which hellish court were dragged at all hours of 
day and night, men and women, helpless, defenceless 
victims of priestly suspicion, avarice and malice; and 
where without evidence or means of defence they were 
slowly and cruelly tortured on racks, wheels and in- 
fernal machines of every possible conception, and 
where hot pinchers, puUies, thumb-screws, and the 
stake and fagot were used in thousands of instances ? 

Could you hear the cries and groans of these poor, 
helpless, tortured wretches, hour after hour, day after 
day, month after month, year after year, century 



24 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST, 

after century, and never feel a particle of sympathy 
for the sufferers, and never stretch forth your hand of 
to lift a finger to stay these most accursed wrongs ? 

Did you participate in the wars of the Crusades, 
when Christian Europe sent so many of her hardiest 
and bravest sons to wrest the Holy Land from the 
possession of the Infidel, which terrible wars lasted 
many years, and which caused the blood of scores of 
millions of human beings to saturate the earth ? 

Did you take part in other Christian wars by which 
unknown thousands and millions of hapless mortals 
were made to bite the dust ? 

Did you assist in the bloody persecutions which 
continued for centuries, that were directed against 
the sincere, well-disposed, but most unfortunate Yau- 
dois, Waldenses, Albigenses, the Moors of Spain aad 
the Huguenots of France in which unparalleled cruel- 
ties of every conceivable character and the most pro- 
fuse bloodshed took place ? 

If you did not aid in all this most infernal business 
transacted in your name, and by your Church, were 
you totally unconscious of it ? 

If you knew of it, and possessed the power to stay 
the red hand of blood, the heavy hand of oppression, 
or the strong hand of death in this long night of 2:loom 
and horror, why in the name of all that is good, all 
that is merciful, all that is high and holy, did not 
you or your all-powerful Father, once stretch forth 
your hands and stay these gigantic wrongs ? 

Could beneficence, mercy and love, sit benignant- 
ly, placidly and smilingly, on a golden throne, 
with all power at hand, and never raise an arm to 
check this mad monster savagism, intolerance, cruelty 
and death, which for so many long weary years, in 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 25 

the name of the Christian religion, cursed the fairest 
portions of the earth 

As a God or as a man, have you at any time dis- 
pensed to the human race the blessings which 
would have been of the greatest value to them 

Would not natural truths, science, positive knowl- 
edge, and general education been of infinitely more 
value to the world, than the gift of your blood, or the 
relics of ancient paganism which you handed down, 
or which have been forced upon the world in your 
name ? 

Did not your bishops, your priests, and your 
Church, a few centuries ago, do all in their power to 
hold back advancing light, intelligence, education 
and science ? 

Were not the great discoverers of the truths of 
Nature, the noble emancipators of our race from the 
rule of ignorance and error, systematically and per- 
sistently hunted down and persecuted ? 

Were not books, schools, and the printing press, 
time and time again denounced as of the DeviPs agen- 
cies and opposed by Christian zealots to the extent of 
their power ? 

Were not the masses purposely kept in is;norance 
and filled with superstitious fallacies by those who 
claimed to be their religious and Christian teachers 
and guides ? 

Has not the advance which the world has made in 
education, science and general intelligence been made 
in spite of, and in opposition to Christian leaders and 
the Christian Church ? 

Let me ask you right here. As God, or as man, are 
you, or were you ever acquainted with what are called 
the Sciences ? 



26 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Do you understand astronomy, chemistry, geology, 
biology, physiology, psychology, philology, mathe- 
matics, geometry, natural philosophy, and natural 
history in all its branches ? 

Are these not all valuable and beneficial to the hu- 
man race, and do they not help greatly in elevating 
man above the plane of barbarism, sensuality and 
ignorance ? 

If you had known these, and had taught them to 
the world, would it not have been immensely better 
than to give your blood or to retail the mysticisms, 
parables, fables, beatitudes, and the impracticable 
injunctions which you presented to the world ? 

Is it not better and wiser now, to follow in the light 
of science, reason and truth, than to adhere longer to 
any of the mythologies, superstitions and absurdities 
of the past ? 

Has not man advanced as far as he has, by his own 
efforts, and is it not vastly better for him to depend 
upon his own powers, and to exercise them, rather 
than to look to gods, demi-gods, popes, bishops or 
priests ? 

Have not these held the world back in ignorance, 
darkness and slavery for thousands of years ? 

Has not your Church been signalized by the falli- 
bility, vice and ignorance of many of its leaders and 
rulers ? 

Have you been mindful of the villainous popes 
who have, from time to time, filled the papal chair, 
and who claimed to be your vicegerents and special 
favorites ? 

Did you approve the conduct of Gregoiy the Great 
in the sixth century, who was an aspiring, unscrupu- 
lous despot, notorious for his piofligacy, cruelty and 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 27 

crimes, and who sanctioned one of the most bloody 
assassinations ever perpetrated ? 

Was John XII. in the tenth century a favorite of 
yom-s, who was an unscrupulous libertine, gambler, 
debauchee and murderer, and who turned the Vatican 
into a brothel ? 

How did you like John XXIII. in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, who was proved to have been guilty of seventy 
diflerent kinds of crime, among which was sodomy, 
simony, rape, incest and murder, and with having 
illicit intercourse with over three hundred nuns ? 

Do you not remember the delectable Alexander the 
Sixth in the fifteenth century who was guilty of in- 
cest, who seduced his own daughter, who was the 
father of many illegitimate children, and reeked in 
the most abominable crimes, and among the rest mur- 
der ? 

Can you approve of the conduct of many of your 
modern clergymen who have claimed to be bright 
lights in your galaxy of stars ? What of Ephraim K. 
Avery, who was guilty of seduction and then the 
murder of his victim ? 

How do you esteem Bishop Onderdonk, L. D. 
Huston, Henry Ward Beecher, John S. Glendenning* 
and thousands of other clergymen of like innocence 
and purity of character? 

Have you not often had occasion to blush with 
shame and to redden with indignation at the base 
conduct of hundreds — yes, thousands of licentious 
hypocrites who try to pass themselves off as shepherds 
and leaders of youi- flock ? 

Ai'e not the ewe lambs specially exposed to their 
seductive wiles and artifices, their sensual plots and 
lascivious designs f 



28 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 

Is it an indication of the purity and goodness of a 
cause when so many false lights and teachers are 
claiming to represent it ? 

Do not the clergymen, who loudly preach in your 
name, do quite as much to corrupt the morals of the 
world as tkey do to improve them ? 

Is not money, which in your book is called *' filthy 
lucre — the root of all evil," the main incentive which 
induces your clergy to engage in your cause ? 

Would their great love for ** souls" impel them to 
devote their talent and lives to the work if the pay 
was not forthcoming ? 

Would not all the souls of men be suffered to go 
down to the eternal flames of burning sulphur if money 
was not liberally paid them to prevent such a sad catas- 
trophe ? 

If there was no paying would there be much preach- 
ing Siud praying? 

Can it comport with your sense of justice, honesty, 
and propriety to see these fat, lazy priests exact and 
obtain from the hard working Mickies who carry the 
hod, and the Bridgets who attend to the roasts and 
stews in the kitchen, a large share of their hard earn- 
ings for the saving of their souls ? 

Were not many of the old pagan priests and teach- 
ers models of virtue and purity compared with your 
clergymen of modern times ? 

Do you approve in general of the rich, expensive 
churches and cathedrals of these times ? 

Are the $250,000 churches and the $10,000 and 
$20,000 pastors anything like the times when you were 
upon earth and wandered listlessly about the fields, on 
the streets of villages and in the country highways ? 

Would it not be better if these mao^niflcent church 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 29 

places, where Mr. Moneybags, Mrs. Grundy and 
Mrs. Uppercrust meet to worship alike the unknown 
God, and the god of fashion, were all converted into 
industrial schools, hospitals for indigent widows, im- 
beciles, helpless cripples, the aged^ the infirm and all 
unable to do for themselves ? 

Could not many of them be profitably changed into 
halls of science, where the truths of nature, the use- 
ful arts and the various avocations of life might be 
freely taught to all ? 

In view of the pride, arrogance, extravagance and 
hypocrisy of the modern clergy, would it be unsafe to 
expunge them all as a bad lot ? 

Would not thQ hundreds of thousands of priests 
throughout Christendom, who are entirely an unpro- 
ducing class, and are living upon the labor and sweat 
of the toiling classes, be much more profitably employ- 
ed in useful and productive occupations, thereby earn- 
ing an honest living ? 

If the masses who, through ignorance and mistaken 
notions of virtue and morality, are now induced to 
support these hordes of pampered, licentious priests, 
and to build and furnish these costly temples and 
churches, could be relieved of the onerous expense of 
all this; and if the priests, who labor not at all in the 
avocations of industry, were forced to do so, would 
not the hours of toil for the weary and overworked 
millions be materially lessened, and would there not 
be more time for rest, recreation and mental improve- 
ment ? 

Do you like to see the priesthood of all your de- 
nominations calling upon their credulous dupes on 
every occasion for money, money ^ money, and all for 
Jesus the Redeemer's sake ? 



30 AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHBIST. 

Are not the fashionable churches of the day mere 
aristocratic associations for an exclusive class, where 
they can foster pride, arrogance and self-righteous- 
ness f 

Are your moral maxims, your simple injunctions, 
and the lowly sentiments you inculcated upon earth, 
their guide and rule, or do they follow the fashions 
of the world, the vanities, the frivolties and gew- 
gawry of dress, jewelry, fine silks and grand display? 

Are members of the churches really any better than 
the average of non-professing people ? 

Will the mouthing of your sayings, the calling upon 
your name, the mere profession of devotion to your 
cause, avail them without doing the work you pre- 
scribed ? 

If a rich man cannot by any possibility enter the 
kingdom of heaven, what is to become of large num- 
bers of those calling themselves Christians f 

Are not the people of pagan and heathen countries 
to-day, more honest, more sincere, more simple-heart- 
ed, less designing, less hypocritical, less oppressive, 
less haughty and proud than a large portion of Chris- 
tian professors ? 

Among all the nations of the earth, is there one 
nation where there is more stealing, more lying, more 
cheating, more fraud, more oppression upon the 
poor, and more cruelty, more heartlessness and more 
murder than in Christian lands ? 

Are not the precepts, maxims and moral sentiments 
you enjoined used by your professed followers, more* 
as a cloak for their heartless deception and their self^ 
righteousness, and as a weapon in their^ controversies 
with themselves and their antagonists, than as a rule 
of life or the governing principle of conduct? 



AN OPEN LETTER TO JESUS CHRIST. 31 

Does not the worship of gold, of avarice, of pow- 
er, of fashion, of respectability, of selfishness con- 
trol their actions and inspire their lives far more than 
the meek and lowly doctrines you enunciated ? 

In a few words, is not Christianity, as known and 
practiced in the world, a cheat, a fraud, a costly and 
an expensive luxury which mankind could well 
spare, losing nothing by its rejection ? 

Finally, as you now view the field, the past, the 
present and the future, would it not, in your opinion, 
be better to wipe out from the face of the earth all 
priestcraft, superstition, sectarianism, falsehood, 
all the absurdities and monstrosities which have so 
preyed upon mankind, and to inaugurate an era of 
truth, reason, common sense, science, education, sim- 
plicity, fraternity and humanity; discarding false gods, 
base devils, useless saviors and degrading creeds, and 
to devote our time and attention to the improvement of 
this world and to the happiness of the human race? 

Pardon me, Dear Sir, if I have been importunate or 
bold in my interrogatories. I feel that it is per- 
fectly safe to inquire of you on all the subjects here 
touched upon, and upon which I wish information. 

Should I be successful in obtaining answers from 
you, I will be encouraged to ask for more informa- 
tion. But as hinted at in the beginning of my letter, 
judging from the success I formerly met with, years 
ago, in the appeals I made to you in thousands of 
instances, I am prepared to not be disappointed if I 
receive no reply to this, I am respectfully, studious- 
ly, and hopefully A Truth Seeker. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 64.] 



The lllsWeEodyre.tlieir Cause and Cure. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Tkrougli extreme selfisliness, undue greed, unre- 
strained avarice, obtuse ignorance, a mistaken theol- 
ogy, an excessive fondness for show and glitter, and 
a love of aristocracy and caste, this poor world of 
ours — and more immediately this fair country — is far 
less happy than it ought to he. It should be a heav- 
en, and might he, but man has made it almost a 
hell. 

Through a misdirected policy and a defective sj^s- 
tem of civilization, this land, which should be in 
every sense of the word a land of plenty and happi- 
ness, is with many a land of poverty and want. We 
see riches, affluence and splendor on one hand, and 
destitution, disease, wretchedness and starvation on 
the other. 

It is mournful, in this great city of New York, to 
walk around in the aristocratic portions of the me- 
tropolis and view the magnificent palaces of the 
rich, where all is grandeur and ostentation, where so 



2 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

much wealth is lavished for mere display and show, 
and then to turn our steps to the haunts— the dwell- 
ing places — of the poor, the toilers, the unfortunate 
ones of the community, who are forced to crowd into 
dingy attics, damp, noisome cellars, into badly-con- 
structed and over-crowded tenement houses, often 
twenty, thirty and fifty families, even, in one badly con- 
structed building; luxury, plenty and pride on the 
one hand, and desolation, discomfort and squalor on 
the other. The contrast is striking and even pain- 
ful. In a large proportion of cases it is found that 
those who wearily toil the greatest number of hours 
in the twenty -four, sustain the greatest deprivations, 
and live on the plainest food. The extremes be- 
tween wealth and poverty are probably greater in 
tliis city than in most parts of the country, but the 
contrasts are much the same all over the country. As 
it is here, it is nearly everywhere. 

It is melancholy to realize, that, in this ''land of 
plenty," where no individual should suffer for the 
want of food, that starvation absolutely takes place. 
There is far too much enforced idleness. It is not un- 
frequently the case in this one city, that there are from 
50,000 to 100,000 persons who cannot find em- 
ployment by which to secure the necessaries of life. 
It is a crying evil that a man seeking employment 
upon which the existence of himself and family de- 
pends is unable to find it ! Our laws protect the rich 
man in every dollar of the millions he has ground 
out of the labor of the toiling masses, and it is due to 
the poor man as well, that he has equal protection. 
His labor is his capital, and this should be guaranteed 
liim as really as the rich man with his gold and his 
ill-gotten 2:ains. 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 3 

There is a serious defect in the Christian civ- 
ilization of our times. It has sadly failed to meet 
the wants of the race, and clearly has not brought 
happiness and plenty to the masses. A large propor- 
tion of the people of this country, of unequaled ad- 
vantages, are to-day groaning under poverty, depriva- 
tion, destitution and want. It is not as it should be. 
With the productiveness of our soil, with the increas- 
ed knowledge that has been acquired in the various 
avocations and the varied conditions of life, all ought 
to have plenty, all ought to be happy. If the labor 
and the wealth were fairly apportioned, there would 
be none excessively rich ; none excessively poor. 
Six hours of labor in twenty-four would be sufficient 
to afford a comfortable living for all, and none 
would need to famish with hunger. 

The selfishness of our kind, the faults of our relig- 
ion, and the aristocracies we have to support, are 
chargeable with a great share of the evils under 
which we groan. If we could exchange seventy -five 
per cent, of the selfishness we cherish in our breasts, 
and let a true feeling of humanity, a love of our race 
fill its place ; or, if we could cause our selfishness to 
become so enlightened as to show us that the best in- 
terests of individuals is most promoted by the well- 
being and prosperity of the masses, it would be vast- 
ly better for all concerned. 

In a family of ten children, where the larger pro- 
' portion are healthy and capable of getting along in the 
world; if a brother or sister from ill-health, imbecility 
or want of capacity, evinces an inability to grapple 
with the trials and difficulties of life, the kind-heart- 
ed brothers and sisters who are more fortunate, will 
take an interest in them, will aid them, will help 



4 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

them along, and will divide with them, if necessary. 
This is the sentiment that should actuate all of us. 
We are one large family. All humanity are our 
brothers and sisters. We should not try to pull each 
other down, nor to rise upon others' misfortunes and 
inabilities ; but it should be the duty and the pleasure 
of all to make those around them prosperous, con- 
tented and happy. Excessive selfishness is the lane of 
our existence. 

The aristocracies that have to be sustained are op- 
pressive and expensive. First, perhaps, in this coun- 
try, comes the aristocracy of wealth. Gold, and the 
love of it, rules the country. The capitalist wields 
an influence and power not easily computed. One 
excessively wealthy man, like a Yanderbilt, a Stewart 
a Scott is able to control and oppress thousands of 
his equally deserving, but less fortunate fellow-beings. 
The rule of wealth and capital is a most fearful des- 
potism which the world would be happy in suppress- 
ing. The tendency is for this gigantic evil to increase, 
and it is doing so in geometrical progression. The 
rich men to-day are vastly richer than twenty -five and 
fifty years ago, while the poor are much poorer, and 
vastly more numerous. 

If this state of things continues but a very few dec- 
ades longer, the rich will become monied lords, com- 
paratively few in number, while the millions will be 
abject slaves, menials and dependents. This is upon 
the supposition that the masses do not inform them- 
selve of their rights and take the means of redress 
into their own hands. 

The aristocracy of knowledge is not so much to be 
dreaded, but still it exists to a very great extent. The 
uumber of educated, well-informed people are in far 



THEIR CAUSE AXD CURE. J 

too small a minority, and their power is by no mean:^ 
inconsiderable. Ignorance still fills the land, and 
though a large majority know how to read and write, 
the general information that should, like the rays of 
light, overspread the land, is, unhappily, fearfully de- 
ficient. It is, however, a cheering indication that 
knowledge is increasing. With each succeeding gen- 
eration it is hoped that some gain in this direction is 
made upon the preceding generation. But much 
remains yet to be done. The w^orld needs a great 
deal more of light, to dispel the mass of existing 
ignorance and error. A happy fact in this direction 
is, that any person and every person can acquire as 
much knowledge as lie pleases without impoverishing 
another or lessening the grand aggregate. 

The aristocracy of the Priesthood is indeed a fearful 
one — an aristocracy that rules the world by working 
upon the fears and the ignorance of its dupes, and the 
more dangerous because of its insidious, presumptions, 
arrogant, and exacting character. It claims a delega- 
ted power from a king in heaven, and it has for thou- 
sands of years ruled the world with a rod of iron, and 
with fire and the sword. Millions of treasure have 
been wrung from ignorant and confiding dupes by 
this greedy, oppressive aristocracy, and though they 
have made pompous claims to morality, they have 
doubtless been the greatest curse the earth has known. 

An eloquent and distinguished teacher in the Liber- 
al ranks has given utterance to this sentiment: 
*' There can be but little liberty on earth while men 
worship a tyrant in heaven ;" and he might have 
added : and but litUe little liberty and independence while 
men sustain a licentious, pampered, polluting prieH7iood/ 

An approximate estimate of the expense of tJiis 



6 THE ILLS WE ENDURE. 

tneological aristocracy can be arrived at when we 
take into consideration that in Christendom there 
are 600,000 priests that are wholly non-producers and 
who live solely upon the labors of others, laying their 
exactions upon the toiling masses with a heavy, mer- 
ciless hand. In our own country there are sixty 
thousand clergymen, and scarcely one in the entire 
number do as much as to grow a hill of beans. Their 
salaries vary from $500 and $1000 to $10,000 and 
$20,000. There are also sixty thousand churches to 
be kept up, many of these temples to the unknown 
Ood in the cities of our land, costing from $50,000 to 
$500,000 each, and some even more. Many of these 
churches are supplied with expensive organs, and 
high-salaried choirs are employed. The Christian 
religion costs this country $200,000,000 annually and 
the question naturally arises, are the returns in pro- 
portion to the cost f Truth answers no, no, NO ! It 
is definitely settled that the religion alluded to does 
not increase morality where it prevails. In no part 
of the world is there so much cheating, lying, steal- 
ing, robbing, killing, grinding the face of the poor, 
trampling upon the helpless and needy, as in Chris- 
tian lands. Christian despots. Christian lords. Chris- 
tian millionaires, Christian capitalists, are more op- 
pressive, more cruel, more exacting than any others 
in the world. 

Reader, think for a moment how it is. The sixty 
thousand clergymen of this country and their families 
are supported in idleness by the laboring classes; for 
all the rich, all the idle, all the indolent, and all the 
aristocrats live and flourish by the muscle and sweat 
of the toiling millions. Every drone, every non-pro- 
ducer, every one who adds nothing to the wealth and 



THEIR CAUSE AKD CURE. 7 

products of tlie world are supported and fed by those 
who labor. Suppose every priest, every clergyman 
who now feeds upon the best the earth produces, but 
without lifting a finger towards producing it, suppose 
by the power of public sentiment or other controlling 
influence they were themselves compelled to become 
producers — if by the labor of their hands they were 
made to feed themselves and their families, just think 
what a burden would be taken off the shoulders of 
the weary toilers. If the clerical aristocracy, if the 
monied aristocracy, if all these drones and idlers were 
forced to feed themselves, to support themselves and 
to clothe themselves, what a relief it would be to the 
working men and women who not only are now 
forced to feed themselves, but all the drones in the 
great human hive. If the labor of the world could 
be equally apportioned, as we observed, six hours of 
toil in the twenty -four would be sufficient to sustain 
all in comfort and plenty, and the remaining eight- 
een hours could be passed in recreation, mental im- 
provement and rest. 

It is fortunate that the remedy for the ills we endure 
is mainly in our own hands. What we need is the 
intelligence, the humanity, the love of our fellows, 
and the unselfishness to co-operate and work for the 
general good, instead of personal aggrandizement, and 
excessive wealth. The laboring masses must learn to 
co-operate with intelligence and unselfishness. It is 
impossible to limit the great good that can be accom- 
plished by it. With the ballot, with the muscle, with 
the habits of industry, and with the resolution and 
perseverance of the working men and women the 
greatest results can be produced. The laboring classes 
have in their own hands the making of officers and 



8 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

and law -makers, and consequently the laws. If they 

will work together with due intelligence they can 

compel the conditions as they please. 

If certain laws are desirable to be enacted, we 
have the power to elect the men to enact them. If 
capitalists are bearing down upon the working poor, 
let the laboring class bring their power and influence 
to bear, and command the terms. If the owners of 
mills and factories, as at Fall Eiver, are oppressive 
and unreasonable, let one hundred and fifty men, 
more or less, of the operatives work in a united inter- 
est putting in $100 apiece, or what they are able to do, 
and inaugurate a business, on a moderate scale, if nec- 
essary, and be their own masters. An honest and 
practical co-operation in cases of this kind can hardly 
prove unsuccessful, and will apply to nearly all the 
avocations of life — in buying for consumption and in 
selling the products of labor. 

Co-operation is successful in many parts of Europe 
and is becoming somewhat so here ; and in this direc- 
tion lies the remedy for many of the ills endured 
by the working millions. To make it a success a 
fraternal feeling, an enlightened intellect, faithful 
honesty and practical effort are the essentials. 

Our attention has recently been attracted to a co- 
operative movement at Springfield, Yt., known as 
" The Industrial Works," that furnishes all its mem- 
bers with consent work at fair wages and a pleasant 
home at small cost, and which is meeting with a suc- 
cess so marked as to attract the attention of many 
thinking people. The members of this association 
are said to be young people who are willing to rid 
themselves of bad habits, work steadily, dress^econom- 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 9 

ically, and save a portion of their wages. No others 
are taken. 

The men who join are required to furnish a small 
amount of capital, and to save one fourth of their 
wages which must be invested in the capital stock of 
the company. Women are not required to put in 
capital, but to save one sixth of their wages and to in- 
vest it in the businuss. Those who do not comply 
with the requirements of the association are expelled, 
and those who wish to leave can do so at any time 
and can withdraw their capital by giving a few months 
notice. The wages paid to each member is fixed by 
a board of directors and is apportioned to skill and 
ability. 

They have a large dwelling or home, where the 
members live and enjoy many privileges and com- 
forts not attainable by the poor in the , ordinary 
course of life, whether in small families or boarding- 
houses. All pay a moderate price for board from their 
wages. 

They have two new factory buildings and a good 
water privilege and considerable machinery ; and are 
engaged in the manufacture of toy and house-furnish- 
ing goods, for which ready sale is found. 

They commenced business a year ago with five 
hands, and are now working forty-five. Their sales 
for last month were over $3,000. Their pay-roll for 
the month was over $1,200, and the saving of wages 
which was added to the capital of the company was 
more than $300. The average amount saved from 
the wages of each man in a year is $150, and of each 
woman, $50. Many of the members have saved more 
than this amount, but this is all that is required of 
them. The aggregate amount saved by the present 



10 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

company will be about $5,000 for the year. By con 
tinuing in this course for a few years, the capital oi 
the association must become large, and the earning of 
each member a respectable and comfortable compe- 
tency. 

Such a co-operation of industrious, honest and in- 
telligent individuals, is certainly practical and may be 
very successful. It is a subject upon which we shall 
have more to say. 

The success which has attended the combined 
operations of the societies of ''Shakers," and the 
'' Oneida Community," establish the fact, that not 
only in union is there strength, but that in union and 
co-operation is there sociality, pleasure and profit. 

There are various ways in which the principle of 
co-operation can be applied. If it is not desirable in 
all cases to enter into companies in the manner just 
indicated, it can at least be carried out in Hie election 
of officers, and in the enactment of desirable laws. 
The laboring men of this country may be the rulers 
of this country if they choose to be so. They have 
only to act in concert and with discretion, to accom- 
plish anything they wish. We urge them to an un- 
selfish humanitarianism, or in other words, an en- 
lightened self-interest. Let the great truth be always 
borne in mind, that by promoting the general wel- 
fare and happiness, we most effectually promote our own. 
Let this principle be acted upon and carried out in 
all the affairs of life, and vastly more can be accom- 
plished for the happiness and good of the race, than 
the Church, religion, and all the priests have effected, 
for thousands of years. 

We would briefly indicate, just here, the course, 
that to us seems feasible for employing the thousands 



THEIll CAUSE AND CURE. 11 

who are unable to find employment themselves ; that 
the municipalities, the State, or organized companies 
for the purpose, establish a series of manufactories 
and industrial establishments, where any person can 
find employment, at any time. Let fifty or seventy - 
five per cent of the wages earned from week to week 
be paid, the balance to stand for six months to be 
then paid, or to be invested in the capital of the com- 
pany for the benefit of the individual. This would 
be vastly better than that unemployed thousands 
should be left to crowd our cities and indulge in 
crime. A reasonable amount of capital invested in 
this way, would be vastly better than establishing 
soup houses and alms-houses ; and an immense saving 
would thereby be effected in cost of trials and courts 
of justice for the punishment of criminals. Labor, 
even, at moderate pay, is a blessing to those wanting 
bread. 

Our prisons should also be made industrial institu- 
tions, and every person unwilling to work and who 
has no visible means of livelihood, should be arrested 
and made to work for no remuneration save plain^ 
board. 

In a word, employment, at moderate wages, should 
be furnished all who want it, and those who will not 
work should be made to. This course would end 
most of the tramps, idleness, and crime that now 
abound, and the average hours of toil would be less- 
ened for all classes. Now the workers have to sup- 
port all the idlers. If the idlers were also compelled 
to work, the laborers would assuredly have to devote 
tower hours to toil. 

The insatiable and insane desire for immense 
wealth, which is one of the great evils of our time, 



12 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

shoiild be counteracted by excessive taxation upon 
tlie excessively rich. No man has ever honestly 
earned a million dollars, and he really has no right to 
it. Wealth is the common property of the world, 
and a few individuals have no right 4;o engross it all. 
We say then, tax the immensely rich^ heamly, and in a 
ratio increasing with their wealth. Say on $50,000, 
one per cent. ; 100,000, two per cent. ; $500,000 five 
per cent. ; $100,000,000 and over, ten per cent., or at all 
events, such a rate of taxation as will render excess- 
ive wealth undesirable, thus leaving it to flow in the 
usual business currents, and attainable in a moderate 
degree by the masses. 

Large land-owners should be treated in a similar 
way. No man has a natural, or just right to more 
land than he can use, and the excess above this quan- 
tity should be so heavily taxed that he would be 
glad to part with it and to throw it into the market, 
where men of moderate means can obtain it. 

The people have these reforms within their power, 
if they will but intelligently use the power they pos- 
sess. 

Among the crying evils of our time, is the spirit of 
extravagance and the disposition to contract indebt- 
edness. It begins with the individual farmer, me- 
chanic and merchant; it is fearfully apparent in cor- 
porations, cities and municipalities; it is an evil with 
which every State is more or less troubled; and finally 
our National Government is sadly inv^olved in the 
same evil. And so it is with nearly all the gov- 
ernments and nations of the world. All are loaded 
down with a weight of debt, which, like an incubus, 
hangs heavily upon their necks. Generations must 
pass away before this gigantic evil can be fully re- 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 13 

moved ; and unless reformatory measures are adopted, 
the wrong will be more aggravated and still more 
widely extended. 

This city alone has an onerous debt of $150,000,000 
in round numbers, saddled upon it, and our neighbor- 
ing city of Brooklyn has nearly $50,000,000 weighing 
her down; and in a similar manner nearly every city 
and incorporated town in the country has, through 
the criminal operations and mismanagement of local 
rings, and designing, intriguing parties, loaded them- 
selves heavily with debt. Many counties and town- 
ships, nearly all railroad companies and similar cor- 
porations are in the same predicament. The mania 
to run in debt has been general, and the evil has be- 
come wide-spread. 

To pay the interest upon this immense indebted- 
ness is a heavy burden upon the people, even if the 
evil can be stayed where it is ; and is a burden which 
the laboring classes have to carry. The dishonesty 

. and thieving with which much of this has been ac- 
complished, is appalling, and assuredly is enough to 
shake confidence in humanity to its very center. 
When is it to end, and where is the great rem.edy? 
Is there a hope of escape from this burden, or must 
we ever submit to it without relief? 

Closely allied with this evil is the still greater one 
of dishonesty, fraud, and thieving in public servants, 

^ which has rapidly increased within the last twenty- 
five years. It pervades all grades and classes of offi- 
cials, with very few exceptions, from city policemen 
and ward -officers to the legislators of States and to 
Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet officers, and even the 
Executive himself, whose salary, like the salaries 

' of many other high officials, lias been doubled, 



14 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

and who, from a very poor man, has become, in a 
few years, a millionaire. Almost every public officer 
seeks places of trust to avail himself of the facilities 
which the position affords him to plunder and steal 
from the public purse, and thereby, instead of serving 
the best interests of the public, to increase his own 
wealth — his own dishonest gains. To such an extent 
has this mammoth grievance been carried, that it has 
become almost a dishonor to hold official positions in 
the nation. If a man's name is mentioned who has 
filled the office of Indian Agent, Congressman, a Sec- 
retaryship, or many other places of public trust, the 
question at once presents itself to the mind, has not 
that man, like all the rest of his compeers, filled his 
own pockets from the public treasury ? It is the sad- 
dest aspect of modern civilization, that gross dishon- 
esty is greatly on the increase, and that promotion to 
office is a most prolific source of theft, and is the 
channel in which it largel}'^ fattens at the public ex- 
pense. 

All this is becoming a grave question; hov/ much 
has our system of theology to do with all this corrup- 
tion and crime? How much is the faith which teach- 
es the believer that he secures a seat in heaven — not 
by his own n^erits and good deeds, but by the right- 
eousness of another individual, responsible for the 
code of morals that now rules the land? Is it calcu- 
lated to inaugurate and encourage honesty, to teach 
people that they can secure the most valuable riches, 
the highest degrees of happiness of which the mind 
is capable of conceiving, witliout any exertions of 
their own, but by the labors and sufferings of an- 
other? 

Is it natural that people should pursue an honest 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 15 

course through, life, when they are taught from their 
mothers' knees, in the Sunday-school, and at every 
church they attend during childhood, youth and ma- 
ture age, that however black their crimes, however 
base their sins, however dishonest or iniquitious their 
conduct may be, that it can all be blotted out ; that 
their record can be made spotless and clean; that 
their sins, though as red as scarlet, can be made as 
white as wool ; that they can be washed in the blood 
of an innocent lamb and be rendered immaculate, 
pure and spotless ; that however great the score of in- 
debtedness that may be posted up against them in the 
great ledger, that a kind-hearted individual will settle 
it all, if they will simply believe in liim — that '' Jesus 
will pay it all'''? 

There can be no doubt that the sentiments and 
morals taught to children and youth, have a great 
influence in forming character and in establishing a 
rule by which to square the conduct of life. It is 
undeniable that the religious belief of a people has 
much to do in controlling their actions and in estab- 
lishing their character and habits. Can it be expect- 
ed that a nation can ever be honest, moral and truth- 
ful, when they are instructed from infancy, that in 
securing happiness, that in laying up treasures in 
heaven, morality and good actions count as nothing ; 
that in fact they are often a hindrance to happiness, 
and that however great an amount of moral and 
spiritual indebtedness a person may pile up, Jesus 
stands ready and willing to pay the entire score. 

This system of religion, this plan of salvation, is 
well calculated for moral bankrupts and those who 
want to eat well, and dress well, at somebody 
else's expense and upon the result of the labors of 



16 THE ILLS AVE ENDURE, 

Others. This getting to heaven by taking the benefit 
of the bankrupt act, inevitably makes moral delin- 
quents and dishonest individuals of most of those 
who embrace the doctrine. 

It is a far better religion, far more moral and more 
truthful, to inculcate in the minds of the young, and 
people of all ages, the great moral maxims that our 
happiness and peace of mind depend upon our conduct; 
that justification, like happiness, cannot be bought 
nor borrowed, nor stolen ; that neither the blood of a 
lamb nor a belief in any blood, can avail in washing 
away the effects of wrong doing ; that every act com- 
mitted, whether good or bad, either adds to, or dimin- 
ishes our happiness and peace of mind ; that every in- 
dividual is responsible for his own conduct; that the 
virtues, good deeds and good qualities of one person, 
cannot be transmitted to another ; that the effects of a 
crime or a wrong action, can no more be removed by 
forgiveness, than can the eff'ects of a burn, a broken 
limb or a dose of poison ; that the better way to 
avoid the eff'ects of misdeeds, is not to commit them ; 
and that the safest plan to secure a competence, or to 
ensure peace of mind and happiness, is to work in- 
dustriously, live honestly, and to do wrong to no man. 

The gods have little use for our services, our de- 
votions, our adulations or our praises. They are 
so far removed from us, they are so uncertain a 
quantity that it is not in our power to aid them nor to 
injure them. It is within our power to aid or injure 
ourselves and our fellow-beings around us. In view 
of these impregnable truths, should the actions of 
man be governed? ^ 

Common honesty is far too rare a commodity in 
this advanced nineteenth century. The great bulk of 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. ' 17 

the conimunity are trying to gain an advantage over 
their neighbors, and so far as in their power to get 
something for nothing. The actions of men are far 
too much influenced by selfish motives, and there is 
not regard enough felt for the happiness and welfare 
of neighbors, friends and strangers. 

If we will do away with all dishonest gods, all 
unjust devils, all false systems of theology, and all 
blind and erroneous creeds; if we will square our 
daily act ions by the principles of honor, honesty am 
uprightness; if we will make it a point to see how 
much we can add to the happiness of those around 
US; if we will resolve to dispense with all silly 
gew-gaws, all the trappings of vanity; if we will 
strive for the beautiful and the useful; if we will 
be content with a moderate amount of wealth ; if we 
will be willing to dispense with luxuries ; if we will 
at all times realize the truth that our own happiness 
is increased by adding to the happiness of others, we 
will do very much towards making this a brighter, 
an honester and a happier world, and will need no 
blood of a god, nor a son of a god, to make us happy 
now, or in the future. 

Let us cherish the good qualities of our natures and 
check and curb those of an opposite character. There 
is scarcely a human being — however low and deprav- 
ed — but what has many good qualities in his organi- 
zation. It should be the duty of this life to cultivate 
and increase the good, and root out and lessen the 
opposite. 

The finest fruits, the choicest grains, the most beau- 
tiful flowers, do not grow spontaneously on every 
hand, but have to be cultivated with care. The 
weeds, the thistles, the nettles, and the poisonous 



18 ^ THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

plants, have to be uprooted and removed. So it is 
with personal qualities and individual characteristics. 
Some are less useful and less to be admired than oth- 
ers. One class needs culture and care, the other 
should be destroyed. Let us apply the same tactics 
and practices in one field that we do in another, and 
we can succeed in making this world about as pleas- 
ant and happy as we wish. We will not need to wait 
till we die before we go to heaven, for we can get up 
one here, on our own account, and if there is a con- 
tinued existence after this life, we will be far better 
prepared for it than by neglecting our own faults and 
depending upon the virtues of another. 

If every man will make himself honest, we will 
soon have an honest community. If we will search 
diligently and select honest men only, to fill public 
offices and to be law-makers; if we will co-operate to- 
gether in insisting upon such reforms as our coun- 
try requires; if we will firmly resolve to have fewer 
officers, and to pay them less exorbitant salaries; if 
crime and dishonesty can be more effectually pua- 
ished; if we will attach to wealth and its acquisition 
no value any farther than that it secures to us the com- 
forts of life and the absence of suffering and want; if 
we render it impossible for any individual to accu- 
mulate, by fraud, dishonesty or otherwise, an undue 
portion of wealth, whether in money or land; if we 
will make the rich pay the burdens of the govern- 
ment, if labor can be provided for all: if none are 
suffered to be idle and non-producers; we may have 
a country truly flourishing in comfort, prosperity and 
hap piness. 



THEIK CAUSE AND CURE. 19 

Among the excesses and perversions wbicli have 
grown up with modern Christian civilization, is that 
connected with the '* dispensation of justice." One 
has but to notice the deviousness, the delays, the un- 
certainties and the costliness attending what are called 
our ''Courts of Justice," to become impressed with 
the clumsiness, the tediousness and the dlssatisf actori- 
ness of the whole system. He almost inevitably 
comes to the conclusion, that justice is a misnomer — 
that the temples erected in every county of our 
land, and ostensibly dedicated to the blind goddess, are 
expensive institutions, dedicated rather to the genius 
of injicstice, which, whether blind or not, seems wo- 
fuUy lacking in honesty and good sense. 

To step into one of these temples when the ceremo- 
nies are in full operation — say when the docket is be- 
ing called, and the case of Brown versus Jones, and 
Smith versus Robinson, and a long calendar of others 
are being called, and to see the array ©f learned and 
talented lawyers, with their green bags and large par- 
cels of documents, answering, as cei'tain cases are 
reached, some of which have been hanging in court 
for months, and sometimes for years ; and to notice 
the excuses, the plausible subterfuges, and the inge- 
nious artifices that are exercised, on one side or the 
other to delay, or stave off a trial ; and to hear the 
great diversity of excuses and arguments that are of- 
fered, on the one side or the other, to prevent what 
they profess to be pursuing, one is compelled to de- 
cide that the august Judge, the troop of attorneys, and 
the entire officials of the court, instead of jointly aim- 
ing to speedily procure justice for the unfortunate cli- 
ents, are using their ingenuity and finesse in trying 



20 THE ILLS WE ENDURE. 

"how not to do it." The uncertainty and intermina- 
hleness of the " law's delay " are proverbial. 

It was recently our misfortune, to be elected to 
serve upon the jury, and while we were waiting to 
present to the judge the necessity of owe attending to 
our own business, and to ask him to excuse us, we 
had time enough to realize how cumbrous, indirect, 
tardy and expensive our legal poceedings are. 

Legal justice is a luxury that a poor man, or one in 
moderate circumstances, cannot indulge in. It is a 
privilege attainable only by those who are fortunate 
enough to have plenty of money. Lawyers who have 
spent their lives in studying the intricacies of Coke, ^ 
Blackstone, and Kent, who are familiar with English 
law and our own revised and re-revised statutes — have 
become a necessity to our life and civilization, 
and they are employed at extravagant fees in the 
settlement of the thousands of difficulties that arise in 
the transfer of property, the operations of commerce, 
the transactions of business and in the endless intrica- 
cies of life, which could all be settled more speedily, 
direct, satisfactory and by a vastly more economical 
process. 

Eeader, have you ever stopped to think what a 
great number of lawyers, clerks, constables, sheriffs, 
and judges are being retained and munificently sup- 
ported, in our complicated social organization for the 
settlement of quarrels and '' little difficulties, " many 
of which if we were more actuated by the spirit of 
fraternity and less by selfishness and greed, might 
greatly be avoided ? In the multitudinous contentions 
about money and property that are hanging from 
month to month, and from year to year in our courts 
of *' justice," and our courts of ''equity," a great 



THEIK CAUSE AND CURE. 21 

portion of them could be amicably settled, or might 
never had an existence if a spirit of concession and 
unselfishness was cultivated, instead of this constant 
disposition to obtain an advantage over every one we 
come in contact with. Our excessive desire to ''make 
money," and to make it, too, at the expense of others 
causes a great amount of trouble and annoyance. If 
we could only learn to view our fellow beings around 
us and everywhere, as really our brothers and sisters, 
that we all belong to the same family, that our hap- 
piness is increased and intensified by promoting their 
happiness and welfare ; if we could only realize that 
the highest type of deity existing in the Universe is 
personated in the men and women who constitute the 
communities in which we live, and that we are a part 
of the same, it would become our desire to promote 
the happiness of those around us to the extent of our 
ability, and we would learn the great truth, that the 
greatest happiness consists in making others happy. 
As, however, in the struggle for existence and 
wealth as existing in our present forms of society^ 
man is necessarily extremely selfish and contentious, 
and as differences will inevitably arise ; let us adopt a 
readier and a cheaper mode of settling them. 

In the ffrst place, every person should know more 
about the laws of his country and the laws of equity 
between man and man, so as to obviate the necessity of 
so great a number of non-producing lawyers, who, in 
this country annually require many millions of dol- 
lars earned by the toil of the laboring masses for 
doing for us and telling us what each man ought to 
know for himself, and which he easily could know, 
if a tithe of the time was devoted in that direction 
that is now occupied in learning and listening to the 



22 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

antiquated theologies and mythologies, fictions and 
fables that go to make up our systems of religion. 
Every man should be an intelligent lawyer, and if 
the time that is spent in listening to the dogmas of an 
angry God, malicious, insinuating devils, the great 
necessity of blood to wash away the stains of sin, 
aud all liindred themes, every man might know 
enough about our law to draw his own contracts and 
deeds, and to attend to nearlj- all the legal business 
necessity requires. 

For the settlement of 'such difficulties and differ- 
ences as cannot otherwise be amicably arranged, let 
ARBITRATION be employed. It is much simpler, much 
readier, much less expensive and much more con- 
ducive to justice and right. If courts of arbi- 
tration were established to meet the public neces- 
sity, in which the arbiter or judge should preside, 
each litigant choosing an umpire for himself, (except 
in cases of evident fraud and collusion, when the 
umpire, one or both, should be chosen by the arbiter) 
justice would be vastly cheaper than now, enabling 
poor men to enjoy its luxuries, requiring far less 
time, employing a much smaller number of men, and 
not one-fourth part of the " machinery " and compli- 
cation of the present mode. Each litigant could 
make his own statement, corroborated with such 
proof as he could adduce — the witnesses to be ex- 
amined by the arbitrators — thus dispensing with the 
immense number of legal gentlemen that now live 
upon the ignorance and contentions of mankind, and 
allow them to engage iu more productive employ- 
ment. There are near four thousand lawyers in this 
city, and other towns and cities are supplied in about 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 23 

the same proportion. In the entire country there are 
about 150,000. 

If the jury system is retained, it would seem advis- 
able to reduce the number of jurors. Numbers do 
not increase the chances for a correct decision. Forty 
would be more objectionable than twelve ; and 
twelve more than three. Our legal processes greatly 
need simplifying and cheapening ; they are far too 
intricate and costly. 

The favoritism and partiality that is manifested in 
our criminal Courts, are most reprehensible. It has 
almost passed into a proverb that a rich man, or a 
rich man's son can hardly be convicted of a capital 
crime. The cunning of scheming lawyers is brought 
into play, and by subterfuge and sharp practice of 
various kinds, the guilty, if rich or from an influen- 
tial family, is seldom brought to justice ; while for a 
poor and friendless man, there is little chance for 
escape. This is one of the many ways in which the 
corruptions arising from the accumulation of wealth 
is too often manifested and calls for radical reform. 
Let the people demand stern and equal justice in all 
cases, until favoritism and partiality are expelled 
from our Courts, and when a rich man and a poor 
man can stand upon a level. 

In connection with the legal profession the medical 
fraternity should not be neglected. It must be ad- 
mitted, they often serve a very important purpose and 
by many are regarded as indispensible. They, too, 
are an unproducing class, and if mankind were as 
well informed in the laws of health as they should be, 
this class could be largely dispensed with. If men 
learned less of theology and more of physiology; less 
of dogmas and more of the laws of hygiene, the major 



24 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

portion of M.D.s could be spared, and the legions of 
empirics, charlatans and pretenders, who now thrive 
upon the ignorance and credulity of the masses, could 
be driven to pursue honest occupations. 

The more the human family becomes conscious of 
the important facts that healthy food in due quanti- 
ties, pure air, pure water, a plenty of sunshine, with 
a proper amount of exercise in the open air are more 
conducive to robust health than drugs and medicines 
of any kind, and that air, water, sunlight, regimen, 
with animal magnetism, are better remedies for dis- 
ease, the more and more will drugs go out of use, and 
the less will physicians be regarded as a necessity, un- 
til mineral drugs and poisons will be deemed as worse 
than useless. When this day arrives, when temper- 
ance and Nature's true remedies are applied, pallid 
faces, broken constitutions, shattered nervous sys- 
tems, dyspepsia, consumption, scrofula, syphilis, par- 
alysis, softening of the brain and a large class of other 
diseases will be far less prevalent than now, and the 
natural birth-right of all — sound health — will be the 
rule. Disease is not the natural heritage of earth's 
children; nor is it sent by a wise and inscrutable, kind 
or unkind Providence. It has come from the excesses 
and wrong practices of man, and these perverted con- 
ditions have been greatly aggravated by an undue use 
of medicines and poisons, which, as we said, the race 
will ultimately learn to dispense with. 

Modern civilization, and its pernicious habits, have 
done much towards making mankind effeminate and 
unhealthy. Diseases and maladies have been increas- 
ed and aggravated by indigestible food, rich dishes, 
feasting, gluttony, late hours, bibulousness, too free 
use of fermented and distilled intoxicants, excessive 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 25 

indulgence in sexual pleasures, over-taxing and over- 
working the brain and the physical organization have 
caused unnumbered thousands of diseased constitu- 
tions and impaired physical and mental powers, and 
these have been transmitted from parents to children 
and aggravated and intensified — all parties, nearly, 
abusing themselves from day to day, and from year 
to year, through life, until it is a marvel how the race 
possesses so much health as it has to-day. 

A large proportion of us have been doing thousands 
of things directly calculated to impair our health and 
happiness and to shorten our lives. This is all wrong — 
a crime against Nature, a crime against humanity, a 
crime against ourselves, a fearful crime against pos- 
terity. A reformation must be effected in this direc 
tion or humanity will fall short of filling its mission 
and of reaching the high point of perfection within 
its power. Medication, drugs and poisons are not the 
true remedies. Nature provides a far better mode of 
treatment and spreads in profusion everywhere the 
means for far better conditions. But her laws must 
not be violated — it cannot be done with impunity. 
Results will enevitably follow causes and no man can 
change this law. If we violate nature, if we indulge 
habits and practices that oxer-tax our physical pow- 
ers and induce a diseased condition, impair our health, 
shorten our days, we absolutely commit murder — and 
often knowingly— not only upon ourselves ; but upon 
our unfortunate posterity that are compelled to inher- 
it the seeds of disease and wretchedness we have 
planted and hand down to them. This fearful 
legacy should no longer be regarded as a gift from an 
all-wise and all- kind Father, a dispensation of an 
over-ruling Providence, but as the direct effects of 



26 THE ILLS WE ENDUBB, 

intemperance in various directions, and in abusing 
the powers and functions of our natures. 

The world has much to learn in connection with 
the subjects here touched upon, and much to gain on 
the score ol moderation and self-denial. The great- 
est amount of happiness is not secured by 3aelding 
thoughtlessly to appetite and passion, or in giving the 
leading strings to our lower animal incentives, which 
should be controlled by the intellect — the reasoning 
power. We must learn to "say no "when lured to 
commit any excess ; any infraction of the laws of 
our being. Health and happiness are far more im- 
portant to us than momentary pleasure, or the indul- 
gence of animal passions. Let us learn to control the 
lower impulses, and pursue the course that will i-esult 
in health, peace of mind, long life, and consequent 
happiness. 

Upon the subject of the propagation of the race, the 
necessary conditions to parent-hood as well as with 
the social conditions of man, a great deal should be 
said that we have not room for in this article. We 
are fearfully in the dark upon this most important 
subject, and are daily and hourly committing crimes 
of which we should not be guilty. The begetting of 
offspring and the laws which control it, are not un- 
derstood as they should be. Young men and women 
too often form unions that are ill-advised and physic- 
ally uncongenial in temperament and adaptability. 
Passion is too often the governing impulse, and chil- 
dren are too often begotten and brought into the 
world which would be far better to never have exist- 
ed. There is far too much ignorance and thought- 
lessness upon this subject. Unions are formed that 
never should have been eflected; and a sickly, feeble. 



THEIR CAUSE A:N'D CURE. 27 

doomed posterity is tlie result. When it is real- 
ized what a lack of knowledge exists upon this sub- 
ject it is not strange there are so many puny, sickly, 
imbecile, malformed and idiotic children brought into 
existence to be a curse to themselves and to those 
who come after them. There is a science closely 
connected with this vital subject which has yet large- 
ly to be learned. Unions between the sexes must be 
effected upon scientific principles ; the habits of mar- 
ried people must be governed by Nature's laws ; 
excesses and wrongs must be avoided if a healthy pro- 
geny is to be insured. 

The begetting of offspring — the transmission of the 
race — is the most important avocation in which 
human beings can engage in ; but upon which there 
is far too much ignorance. The conditions for a 
healthy progeny should always be provided for, and 
to bring healthy, well-developed children into the 
world, should be regarded as the proudest acts of our 
lives. 

Foeticide, or infant-murder, is one of the most 
heinous crimes of modern times, and is fearfull}^ on 
the increase ; but it is difficult to decide, which is the 
most to be deprecated ; that monstrous wrong, or the 
bringing into existence a diseased, miserable, sickly 
offspring. Let there be a general disposition to 
obtain more knowledge upon these subjects. May 
the time come when it can no longer be said in truth, 
that ** among the millions of children which are 
brought into the world, scarcely one is begotten upon 
strictly scientific principles." 

With a due observance of the laws of our being, in 
the matter of health, longevity, physical and mental 
vigor, the Luman race is susceptible of being greatly 



28 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

improved. In this direction, great additional light is 
needed. Our race is as susceptible of improvements, 
as the races ot any of the animals below us. If it is 
found profitable to spend time, care and expense, in 
improving the breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and 
swine, is it not vastly more important to have a care 
for securing a vigorous, healthful, long-lived human 
progenj'- ? 

The great evil of intemperance is ever exciting the 
serious apprehensions of the thoughtful, and how to 
remove it is one of the principal problems of our 
time. It is unquestionably the immediate cause of a 
very large share of the crimes committed amoijg us. 
A large proportion of the cases of assault and battery, 
manslaughter, homicide and murder that are brought 
into our courts, are found to have their origin in 
the free use of alcoholic liquors. It is mournful, 
too, to realize the fact that a very great percentage of 
the- Crimea our courts are called to investigate are 
committed by young men. Inexperienced as they 
are, they are easily led astray, and if they indulge in 
the maddening bowl their reason is dethroned, their 
self-control has departed and they are left to commit 
the greatest follies and the most henious crimes. 

There is far too much license in the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors and although it may be thought to be 
an infringement upon personal rights and liberties to 
prohibit by law the liquor traffic it is a very grave 
question whether society does not possess the right to 
protect itself and especially the rising generation 
against the fell destroyer of peace, health, prosperity 
and life, though it may militate somewhat against 
personal rights. No man has the right to endanger 
the welfare of the community by turning a wild beast 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 29 

or a mad dog loose into the public streets. No man 
has a right to spread a poisonous malaria or to gen- 
erate baleful gases to injure those around him. 
Neither should a liquor-dealer be allowed the right to 
deal out to the young, to the middle-aged or to the 
aged, a virulent poison, that maddens the brain, des- 
troys the reason and changes men into incendiaries, 
homicides and murderers, and all for the sake of a 
little paltry gain. 

Society assuredly possesses the right to protect it- 
self against all deadly foes ; but if it is not practicable 
to close liquor selling establishments let them be held 
rigidly accountable for the evils they cause, and let 
them be heavily fined. Let liquor sellers be held 
responsible for the injury they do If they sell to 
a father, husband, brother or son, and thus make 
criminals or insane men, let them be amenable for 
the crimes and injuries committed in consequence 
of the maddening poisons sold. Let fines and 
penalties be made so heavy upon those who so seri- 
ously injure society — the great family of humanity — 
that the wrong be not continued ; that the destroyer 
of happiness and prosperity will gladly resort to 
an honest and commendable means of livelihood. 
This principle has been partially enforced in some 
parts of our country but not with the rigidness that 
the offense demands. 

Shall society -always sanction the sufferance and 
protection of a class of men who are constantly po- 
inting the morals of the young, who are daily incit- 
ing the erring to crime, who are taking from the 
laboring man the hard earnings needed by his family, 
and who are the direct authors of penury, wretched- 
ness and despair? It is to be hoped not. 



30 THE ILLS WE ENDURE, 

Can a worse hell be imagined than the one the 
liquor traffic has created among us? The great num- 
bers of naturally brilliant and promising young men 
who have been ruined by alcohol ; the immense num- 
ber of families that have been made desolate and 
homeless, the blighted lives and broken hearts it has 
caused; the homicides, suicides and other crimes it 
has instigated, is an appalling array if but seen "in 
half its magnitude and deformity. Society certainly 
possesses the inherent right to abate this terrible 
wrong, and it is a participator in the consequent guilt 
if it i-ef uses to exercise this right. 

The use of opium is also rapidly becoming a gigan- 
tic evil in our country. It is a drug that possesses 
remarkable powers, and is in numerous cases used 
with benefit, but it is doing a thousand times more 
harm than good. Many hundreds of tons of this 
pernicious drug are said to be annually brought into 
this port alone, and by far the greater portion of it is 
used, not as a medicine to remove disease and suffer- 
ing, but as a narcotic to exhilarate the animal feelings 
to produce its peculiar excitement and dreamy intoxi- 
cation. It is a seductive, dangerous foe to the human 
race, and its victims may be numbered by hundreds 
of thousands, and they are often found among the 
best portions of the community. 

In its crude state, or in the form of laudanum and 
morphine, opium is daily and hourly used by great 
numbers of the best men and women. Unlike alco- 
holic drinks, its use is not confined to the lower strata 
of society, but the most intelligent and cultivated 
have become its slaves. Physicians, clergymen, law- 
yers, orators, actors, literary men, mothers of fami- 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 31 

lies and females in all walks of life are numbered 
among its victims. 

Its effects are not so immediately apparent as those 
of alcoholic drinks. Its use is begun in secret, and 
may be continued a considerable time without the 
suspicion of near friends being excited. But ere long 
it tells upon the strongest constitution. The nerves 
are shattered, the tone of the stomach is destroyed, 
the countenance becomes sallow, melancholy, and 
forebodings torture the mind, and constantly impel 
the unfortunate victim to a continued use of the 
soothing, luring, and most pernicious poison, the use 
of which he constantly increases until he becomes a 
mere wreck, to whom death and oblivion is more 
desirable than life, and who goes down to his grave 
a blighted, shattered, ruined man. The picture is a 
fearful one, but is not overdrawn. This vile drug is 
to-day ruining thousands of individuals among us, 
and thousands of families are suffering from its dire 
effects. 

All bad habits are hard to break ; when formed, 
they become cruel masters ; but among all the bad 
habits to which poor humanity are enslaved, 
none, probably, are so hard to break off as the use of 
opium. Begun as a remedy, perhaps, for some pain 
or a headache, a taste is soon formed and a desire 
soon established for the peculiar stimulation and in- 
toxication it produces, and as the use has constantly 
to be increased to produce the same results, the inev- 
itable wretchedness hinted at is ere long reached. A 
few persons of strong will and self-control, when 
they perceive the direful effects of the poison are able 
to abstain from its use and to cast it aside, but by 
far the greater number are impelled on by the unnat- 



32 ^ THE ILLS WE ENDURE. 

ural appetite to destruction and death. If some 
embargo can be placed upon this article, so as to pre- 
vent its importation, production and use, it will 
be a great benefit indeed. The subject should com- 
mand the attention of our national Legislators and 
law -makers. Every person should be made familiar 
with the great danger which attends the use of this 
drug, and avoid it as they would escape the most 
deadly foe. 

There are numerous other ills existing among us ; 
but having already transcended our prescribed 
bounds, we will be compelled to defer a further con- 
sideration of the subject for the present. It is to be 
hoped, uowever, that in the advances made in intelli- 
gence and education, men and women may learn to 
follow in virtuous paths which lead to health and 
happiness, and shun those which through passion, 
perverted taste, pernicious habits and crime, lead to 
wretchedness and misery. We must all learn to 
depend upon our own efforts for the amount of virtue 
and happiness we secure and are able to impart to 
others, and not look to an imaginary being somewhere 
in the sky, or to the merits of the blood of an indi- 
vidual who died near two thousand years ago. Each 
person must be responsible for the good or ill he 
does, and each man is, to a great extent, the creator 
and arbiter of his own happiness, or his own misery. 
We, of course, greatly influence and affect each 
other. We can largely increase or lessen the happi- 
ness of those around us. Here is our duty, here is 
our allegiance, and not in the sky above us. We 
must make our heaven on the earth, and not in the 
air. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 72.] 



Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nep, 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



For hundreds of years there have been two classes 
of men who have given their time and attention to 
fire and to fire- works. One class are styled pyrotech- 
nists, and it is their business to get up all varieties of 
fire-works, embracing rockets, fire-wheels, Roman 
candles etc., in which colored lights, stars and fiery 
sprays are artistically blended, sometimes attended 
with loud detonations, in which chlorate of potash, 
nitrate of potash, phosphorus, fulminating mercury, 
per-oxide of manganese, sulphur, carbon and various 
other chemicals are used. The skill employed in 
this branch of business is very considerable, and most 
brilliant and showy effects are produced. The avoca- 
tion, unfortunately, however, is a very hazardous one, 
and many a man employed in the business, has been 
killed outright or shockingly mutilated; and many a 
building, in which this kind of work has been prose- 
cuted, has been destroyed or greatly damaged by ex- 
plosions and ignitions connected with this dangerous 



a SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 

manufacture. Insurance companies are extremely 
disinclined to take risks on property of this extra 
hazardous character. 

The other class have been called ** fire kings," and 
they aro those who, by the application of alum and 
other substances which are non-conductors to the sur* 
faces of the body, are enabled to endure an incredible 
amount of heat — to step on red hot bars of iron, to 
handle heated metals, apply them to the tongue, and 
take fire in various ways into the mouth etc., etc. 

It is astonishing how great a degree of heat the 
living organization is capable of enduring. Men 
have gone into ovens hot enough to roast beef, and 
have remained there while the meat roasted. We do 
not, at this moment, remember the highest degree of 
heat the human system has been submitted to with- 
out apparent injury ; but it is over two hundred and 
twelve degrees, Fahrenheit, at which point water 
boils. The resisting power of living organizations is 
so great, that a man will emerge in a^ sound condi- 
tion from a heated oven, as we observed, where flesh, 
deprived of life, would soon be cooked through and 
through. 

India and Europe have boasted in times past of sev- 
eral of these fire-kings, whose astonishing powers of 
endurance have excited the wonder of large asserh- 
blages. Some thirt}^ years ago, or more, this city 
had one of these celebrities — a Frenchman by the 
name of Chaubert — who, on many occasions, exhibit- 
ed his powers in this direction before considerable 
numbers. Despite his charlatanry, he really was able 
to endure a high degree of heat with but slight injury, 
and gave a fair representation of the extremely high 



SHADRACH, MESHACH> AND ABED-NEGO. 3 

temperature a human being is capable of enduring for 
a short period. 

There is, however, a limit to the possibility of 4iu- 
man endurance in heated air or in close proximity to 
fire. There is a point which cannot be transcended 
with any degree of safety. The unnumbered thou- 
sands of human beings who have been burned at the 
stake, and others who have been accidentally caught 
in burning buildings, ships and steamboats, w^pst 
conclusively prove that human flesh will burn if sub- 
mitted to a hot fire ; and there is no help for it. 

The most remarkable ''fire kings" that have been 
heard of — those who were able to '' stand fire " vastly 
better than Chaubert or any other fire expert, living 
or dead, or in any age of the world, were the three 
Hebrew children, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 
whom the prince of Nebuchadnezzar's eunuchs, re- 
named, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. The 
story of their being *thrown into a fiery furnace is so 
well known, we hardly need to repeat it. 

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, not- 
withstanding J^aniel had told him his dream and the 
interpretation thereof, after which he seemed to ac- 
knowledge Daniel's God^ did not seem to give his full 
adhesion to the same, but desired to have a god •of 
his own and one he could compel the people to bow 
down to. So he created a god of gold, sixty cubits 
high. If a cubit is eighteen inches, the golden god 
was ninety feet in height, and fourteen feet across ; 
and if a cubit is twenty-two inches, as some Bible 
scholars claim, the god was one hundred and ten feet 
high and sixteen and a half feet across — a most re- 
spectable god indeed, so far as size and material both 
were concerned. The account does not say whether 



4 SHADKACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 

the god was hollow or solid; but if it was solid, it 
assuredly contained wealth enough in itself to pay off 
the national debts of both England and the United 
States. He was a God that most any worshiper 
might bow down to. We think we know many 
Christians who would bow very low before such an 
amount of gold. In fact, they seem to be as suscep- 
tible to the magic influence of this aureate deity as 
any class of people in the world. There have, prob- 
ably, been no races of men since this earth has been 
inhabited, who have been more devoted, persistent 
and servile worshipers of the golden god, than Jews 
and Christians. If a Nebuchadnezzar could now set 
up such a god in our Central Park, or at the Capitol 
at Washington, Christians and Jews from all parts of 
the land would flock to its shrine and bow in pro- 
found and subservient adoration to this god of Gold, 
especially if they could be allowed to saw off or de- 
tach certain parts of the image and carry the same 
away with them. 

Not so with the three Hebrew young men. They 
were made of stern stuff and would not bow, even to 
gold. At this, the King with the long name, became 
very angry and proceeded to carry out the threat he 
had made. He caused the three boys to be bound, 
and had strong men of his army to throw them into 
a fiery furnace, made seven times hotter than usual. 
The heat of the furnace can be imagined, when it is re- 
membered it was so great, that the mighty men who 
were compelled to throw the three boys in, though 
they approached only the mouth of the furnace, were 
utterly destroyed. But the young men who went to 
the very heart of the furnace, were not burned nor 
scorched in the slightest degree. Not even a hair of 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 5 

their heads, nor a thread of their garments was singed 
at all. It seems their flesh was not only invulnerable 
to the fire, but the fabrics of which their apparel was 
composed, were equally secure from its effects. 
They were the most complete fire -proof mortals that 
were ever heard of, and could " stand fire " far better 
than any of their competitors in any age of the world. 
Salamanders— fabulous animals said to live in the 
fire — could not have stood that extreme heat — seven 
times greater than the furnace had ever been made 
before. Thermometers were not invented at that 
time, so the precise heat which that furnace reached 
was never known, but as it was seven times hotter 
than it was wont to be heated, and as six hundred 
degrees, Fahrenheit, is not an unusual degree for a 
furnace to reach, some four thousand degrees may be 
supposed to have been reached — a higher altitude on 
the scale, than is often attained. It must have started 
the perspiration freely. 

It maybe supposed that the furnace was not a good 
place to receive company, but, unseemly as it was, they 
had a visitor, and the King, looking in and seeing not 
only the three safe and sound, but a fourth there also, 
was justly surprised. He said "the form of the fourth 
was hke the Son of God." What he, a heathen king, 
who had been only in the metal-god business, could 
ki^ow about the form of a son of God, is a little mysteri- 
ous. It may well be supposed, of all men in the 
world, Nebudchadnezzar would be about the last that 
could have any true conception of what the '* Son of 
God " would be like. But it is Daniel who tells the 
story, and if he is great at all, it is in mysteries and 
large stories. How the King could see into the fiery 
furnace and perceive who were there, is more than 



€ SHADKACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 

ive can explain. Furnaces are not so constructed 
that people standing away from the efiects of the heat 
€an look into them so as to see if men were there 
walking about. But we know not in what form the 
Ohal deans made their furnaces; they mp,y have con- 
structed them upon the plan that the Christians in 
Spain arranged their au-tosdafe or human burning on a 
large scale, so that the kiags, nobles and the numerous 
spectators who attended the exhibition, could easily 
witness the writhings and contortions of the unhappy 
wretches consigned to the relentless flames. As in 
this case, the committing of human beings to a fiery 
furnace, may have been one species of public amuse- 
ment for gala-day purposes. It is hard to believe, 
however, that they were people of such cruelty, or 
that their taste could have been so abhorrent. That 
kind of amusement was principally reserved for 
Christians of a later time. 

It may be asked, then, do we believe the story ot . 
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego withstanding the 
effects of that intensly heated furnace ? Yes, we 
believe it to be an untruth ; untrue because it is 
opposed to all our experience and utterly at vari- 
ance with nature's laws. We know that fire is the 
greatest disorganizer in the known world, and 
that no organized substance can withstand its 
potent effects, In all cases where human beingfs 
have been submitted to flames of fire or to a de- 
gree of heat more intense than the living organiza- 
tion is able to withstand, they have invariably been 
overcome with the heat, and their lives destroyed. As 
in the thousands upon thousands of cases of burning 
doomed heretics at the hands of merciful Christians 
one thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, or 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABBD-NEGO. 7 

three hundred years ago, God never in one case inter- 
fered with the laws or forces of nature to prevent fire 
from causing death, we do not believe he did three 
thousand years ago. It is the nature of fire to destroy 
organized life, and we cannot think that God has ever 
interfered to prevent it. It is not his province to set 
his own laws aside for Jew, Chaldean, Christian or 
Turk. 

We much more readily believe the whole thing to 
be ** one of our Dan's big stories," or the story of 
some unknown person, who drew entirely upon his 
imagination, and whose vagaries were attributed to 
Daniel, and by Bome means became incorporated into 
the Jewish sacred writings. We feel under no more 
obligation to believe an impossible story in one book 
than in another. Had the Jews been scarce of mate- 
rial of which to compose their sacred writings, and 
had adopted the Arabian Nights, or any portion of 
them, we should have been compelled to reject them, 
and to disbelieve their exaggerated and impossible re- 
citals, and conclude that the laws of God, or the laws 
of Nature are never set aside by any power in existence. 

Possibly we are a little like the negro blacksmith 
who had recently gotten religion at a revival, and needs 
must be inducted into the *' true faith," and into the 
''mysteries of godliness." He listened with rapt 
attention to the accounts of the creation of the world 
in six days from nothing; of the great calamity 
our first parents brought upon themselves and their 
numerous posterity in eating an apple by the persua- 
sions of a snake; that God repented of the job he had 
performed, and decided to destroy the entire human 
and animal races, except two of a kind, saved in an 
ark, and that the w^aters descended all over the earth 



8 SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 

and covered it to the tops of the highest mountain; 
how Moses and Aaron produced the plagues of 
Egypt, pertaining to the frogs, the lice, the locusts 
and the turning of all the water of the land into 
blood; how to let the Israelites escape from the coun- 
try, the Red Sea opened, the waters standing up on 
either side like a wall, so that near a million of people 
could walk through on dry land ; how for forty years 
this vast number of people were fed in the wilderness 
upon manna daily sent from heaven; about Joshua's 
stopping the sun and moon in their courses, that he 
might have a few more hours of daylight to destroy 
his enemies; about Samson tearing open the jaws of 
a lion with his own hands, and finally pulling down a 
large temple by removing two pillars at once, and 
with his own strength ; how Elijah caused no rain to 
fall upon the earth for three years and a half, and 
was afterwards taken up bodily in a fiery chariot into 
heaven ; about Elisha causing the destruction of for- 
ty-two children by two she-bears, and his afterwards 
bringing a de^d man to life, and causing iron to swim. 
He was told also about Jonah being swallowed by a 
whale and remaining in the stomach of the fish for 
three days, when he was vomited up on dry land. 

All these narrations he listened to with close atten- 
tion, as they were explained to him, and he frequently 
asked questions about the wonderful occurences when 
he failed to get a correct understanding, and he 
thought that, as all these things were written in the 
word of God, he could believe them to be true. 
When the story was told of the three Hebrew chil- 
dren being thrown into a burning hot furnace where 
they received not the slightest harm, he hesitated 
somewhat. He had had some experience with fire. 



6HADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO. 9 

and had found out its merciless character — that it 
would burn whatever was thrown in it that was sus- 
ceptible of being burnea, and he was disposed to en- 
quire into the facts of this particular case. 

*^Does yer mean to tell me," said he, ''datdem 
tree men was trown in dat red hot funace, an' didn't 
burn up?" 

*' That is true; not a hair of their heads was 
scorched. " 

'' What's dat you'se a telling me! not a ha'r o' dere 
head, nor tread o' dere clo'es burnt?" 

** Just so." 

*' An' dey was trown rite in dat bilin' hot, roarin' 
funace, an' 't never burnt 'em *t all?" 

''Precisely so. The fire never harmed them in the 
least." 

'' Now look ahere," said the negro, ** I can't bleve 
dat. It can't be true. Fire'U burn, for I'se tried it ; 
I don't bleve dis yere ole fire story, no how; an' now, 
since I tink more 'bout it, I don't bleve none o' dem 
Oder big stories you'se been tellin' me, noderl" 



TRUTH SEEKER LEAFLETS, 

Containing two pages each of terse, trenchant reading 
matter, without redundancy. 

Price by mail, 4 cts. per doz. ; 25 cts. per hundred ; $2.00 
per thousand. 

I). M. BENNETT, 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 74.] 



Daniel in the Lions' Den. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the many extravagant and improbable 
stories with which the Bible abounds, few are more 
extraordinary and incredible than those related in 
the book of Daniel. Who the author of the book 
was, cannot be known. It purports to have been 
written by Daniel, who lived over six hundred 
years before Christ ; but it is thought by Bible critics 
that portions of the book were written in the time of 
the Maccabees, less than two hundred years before 
Christ ; but it is not very material how this was. It is 
a book of wonderful stories and remarkable dreams — . 
which entitles it to rank with the last book in the 
Bible, called ** Revelations'* — which reads like ttie rav- 
ings of a mad man, and which none but an insane 
person can understand. 

The dreams of Daniel about the beasts that rose up 
out of the water, the horns that grew and extended to 
the host of heaven and pulling down some of the host 
thereof, (probably meaning the stars, and it must 
have been a long horn, and a strong one, to reach so 



2 DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 

far and do such execution), his dreams of images, etc. , 
e' c. , have been a great puzzle to divines for centu- 
ries. Scores of times have these sao^e divines, by 
counting the ** horns," the *4mages," the ** times," 
and the '* weeks," mentioned in Daniel, been able to 
predict to a day and an hour, when the day of " eter- 
nal smash" was to come, and the end of all sublunary 
things take place. Oft and oft again, within the last for- 
ty years, have the saints had their ascension robes made, 
and held themselves in readiness to** go up" at the 
sound of the trump, to meet their Savior in the air ; 
but as often have they been disappointed ; for in 
every case has the final day of all things been post- 
poned, and the wise heads have returned to the book 
of Daniel to more carefully count the weeks, the 
times, and the horns, to fix another date in the near 
future, when the awful day should surely come — when 
the end of time would certainly arrive. 

Within a few months, even, the last great disap- 
pointment in this line occurred ; the Lord failed to 
put in an appearance, and the saints were under the 
painful necessity of again laying away their ascension 
robes, while the knowing ones and the interpreters of 
dreams and visions had again to overhaul their spiritual 
arithmetic and make a new calculation as to just when 
the dread day shall surely come. Whether another 
day ii positively set for the * * Son of Man " to appear 
in the clouds, when all the faithful will ascend to 
meet him, is more than we can say. If it has not 
been, it doubtless will be, again to disappoint the ar- 
dent expectations of credulous dupes. Although 
many have said in years past that if the final day did 
not come at a certain date in the near future, that they 
novild no longer have faith or confidence in the word 



DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN. 3 

of God, yet, when the day passed, and nothing un- 
usual happened, they again turned to their Bibles as 
fondly as ever, to count the horns of the beasts, to 
estimate the weeks, and times, and half-times, to solve 
this time with unerring certainity the great mysteries 
of God. It is one of the curiosities of poor human 
nature to observe what simpletons and fools men and 
women can make of themselves in matters of religion 
and faith in that old book, and what importance they 
attach to dreams and meaningless visions 

Daniel seems to have left Judea in the reign of 
King Jehoiakim, when he was quite a youth, at the 
time his nation was taken captive by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, and carried to Babylon, and with three 
other Hebrew children seemed to be taken into spe- 
cial favor by the king in their new home. His name 
was changed from Daniel to Belteshazzar at the time 
the names of his companions were also changed; 
it was decided they should be taught the literature 
of the Chaldeans and to be fed three years upon the 
same quality of meat and wine of which the king par- 
took, doubtless, upon the supposition that this kind 
of diet would contribute to their physical and mental 
growth. The four young men, however, it seems de- 
cided not to eat the meat and drink the wine of the 
king but to use a diet of pulse and water, which probably 
was much like our bean-porridge — a good enough 
dish, now and then, but perhaps hardly the thing for 
a steady diet. They, however, seemed to flourish 
finely upon it, for at the end of ten days the}'' were 
looking more plump and healthy than any of the other 
children who lived upon the king's prescribed diet, 
and they were allowed to have their own way in the 
matter of food. 



4 DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 

It seems by the narrative that Nebuchadnezzar had 
a remarkable dream, so remarkable, in fact, that he 
<;ould not remember a word of it. He, however, 
called all his magicians and wise men together to tell 
him what his dream was which he had forgotten. 
The king was so unreasonable as to threaten them all 
with death if they did not tell him what he had 
dreamed. It was in vain that they remonstrated with 
him, and told him it was an unreasonable demand 
which no living person could comply with, for he 
still insisted upon the terms being carried out which 
he had laid down. Had not Daniel come forward and 
announced to the king that he could declare unto 
him, not only his dream, but the interpretation also, 
there is no telling how many of these poor magicians 
would have been executed. After four days of 
thought and labor, upon the strength of the bean-pov-' 
ridge diet, Daniel — if we are to believe the story — 
told the king what he had dreamed, which was about 
a great image, with a head of gold, breast and arms 
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs and feet 
of iron and clay. Whether this was precisely the 
dream which "old Neb" had dreamed, nobody 
knows, and perhaps he did not know himself, but in- 
asmuch as the young man boldly declared it to him 
and sftid with confidence, it was the dream, the old 
king seemed to be satisfied, and after hearing the in- 
terpretation, he conferred great honors upon Daniel, 
giving him fine presents and making a great man of 
him. 

It might be supposed such a mark of divine power 
as Nebuchadnezzar had received, would have con- 
verted him to the true faith, and made him a wor- 
shiper of the God of the Jews, but not so, for in the 



DANIEL TR THE LIONS' DEN. 5 

very next chapter we are told about his erecting an 
image of gold, sixty cubits, or one hundred and ten 
feet high — the most valuable god of which any men- 
tion is made in sacred or profane history, and one 
which, must be supposed, would seriously tax all the 
gold mines in the world. At this time, when we have 
the gold mines of California, Nevada, Australia and 
South America, which at that time were unknown, 
would, combined, find it to be no easy matter to turn 
out gold enough in a year to make a god over one 
hundred feet in height and eleven feet across. 

Nebuchadnezzar commanded that every person in 
his kingdom should bow down to this golden god, 
which all seemed to do readily enough, save Shad- 
rach, Meshach, and Abednego; and for refusing to do 
so, they were thrown into a fiery furnace heated ex- 
pressly tor the occasion and made seven times hotter 
than usual, with not the slightest harm, however, to 
the three young men, thrown bound into the seething 
fire, but sudden death to the strong man who threw 
them in. As all who did not bow down to the image 
were thrown into the furnace, and as Daniel was not 
thrown in, we are to infer that he bowed down to the 
imasje. If he did not, he surely was unlike the great 
bnlk of his race, who have ever proved themselves to 
cherish a warm and devoted admiration for gold. 

Ten years after this, and thirty-three years from 
the date of Nebuchadnezzar's first dream, behold, he 
had another dream which troubled him greatly. This 
time his dream was about a tall tree which reached 
unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of the 
earth. (Where the ends of the earth are located, is 
not told us). Daniel was again called upon to inter- 
pret this dream, which he easily did, and it was, that 



6 DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN. 

Nebuchadiiezzar should be driven from the habitation 
of men, to dwell with the beasts of the field and to 
eat grass like an ox ; and " seven times " were to pass 
over, before he should return, when he shorild become 
aware that the Most High ruled in heaven. 

The king murmured at this remarkable prophecy 
or decree, as well he might, but there was no mercy 
nor pity for him. That self -same hour he was driven 
forth from the sons of men, and he abode in the 
fields ; he was wet with the dews of heaven, and he 
ate grass, sure enough, like an ox. It is not known 
to this day how long ** seven times" w^as, that the old 
king was thus debarred from the society of men ; but 
at all events it was long enough for his hair to grow 
out like eagles' feathers, and his nails like bird's 
claws. When, it is intimated, he was restored to his 
throne and his kingdom, though but little is after 
wards said about him. 

The story is a very extraordinary one, to say the 
least. The stomach and digestive apparatus of the 
human race is differently constituted from the bo 
vine class of animals, and is very illy calculated for 
subsisting upon grass, and it is very difficult to under- 
stand how a man could live upon grass, and how his 
hair could become like eagles' feathers. ^ 

It is singular, also, that the Chaldeans, w^ho w^ere 
among the most enlightened nations of that age of 
the world, should allow their king to stray into the 
fields and live there like an ox. If he became de- 
mented or insane, they doubtless would have taken 
better care of him than that. It is very remarkable, 
too, if such an occurrence ever did take place with 
one of their great kings, that their histories should 
contain no* mention of it, and that no body in the 



DANIEL IN THE LIONS* DEN, 7 

rworld should ever have mentioned it, save the author 
of the book of Daniel. It should be taken as truth, 
with very many grains of allowance. 

When Belshazzer succeeded to the throne of Bab}^- 
lon, after his father had "gone to grass," he seemed 
to go in for having a good time, and got up a great 
feast, at which a thousand guests attended. In the 
midst of the hilarity, however, an event took place 
which produced a sudden damper upon the king's 
rejoicing. A hand became visible, and wrote four 
words — '' Mene, mene^ tekel iipJiarsin'' — upon the wall 
of the festival room, and none of the astrologists and 
sooth-sayers could interpret the meaning of the omi- 
nous words; hut when, at the suggestion of the 
queen, Daniel was called for, he soon unraveled the 
mystery, and read it off forthwith. It meant that 
the days of the kingdom were numbered ; that the 
king was weighed in the balance and found wanting ; 
and that the kingdom was divided and given to the 
Medes and Persians. It was like a ''word and 
blow,'* for '' in that night was Belshazzer slain.'* 

Darius was the next ruler in the country and Daniel 
succeeded in securing his good will and in obtaining 
office under him, as he had with his predecessors. 
Daniel was a very prayerful individual and he prayed 
regularly at stated times; but his enemies induced 
Darius to sign a royal decree that whoever should 
ask any petition of God or man for thirty daj^s, save 
of the kmg, he should be cast into the den of lions. 
This made no difference with our good Daniel, and he 
kept on praying every day as was his wont. When 
this intelligence was brought to the ears of the king 
he was very sorrowful, for Daniel was a favorite of 
his, but as the laws of the Medes and Persians could 



8 DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 

« 

not be changed he caused Daniel to be thrown into the 
den of lions. It is probable these were not wild lions, 
roaming the forests, for they do not, in a state of na- 
ture, congregate in "dens." The **den" was 
probably a cage where lions, more or less tamed, 
were kept, either for exhibition or other purposes, 
something as Van Amburgh, Barnum and other men 
have done in our time. 

Within the last thirty years it has been a very 
common thing for some one connected with a men- 
agerie to enter the lions' cage in course of the per- 
formance, and go through various exercises. If the 
lions are well fed and under a good degree of train- 
ing, they seldom have oflered to do any injury to 
those who have thus entered their cages. Some 
persons, doubtless by their superior magnetic j)Owers, 
are able to control, to a great extent, animals, as well 
as men. Yan Amburgh, doubtless, possessed this 
peculiarity in his intercourse with lions, as Rarey did 
with the horse. Is it not improbable that Daniel also 
possessed similar characteristics ? If, however, the 
lions had just been fed and their bellies were full, and 
an old man like Daniel — for he then had got to be 
about eighty years of age, and probably somewhat 
shrivelled and dried up, it is quite possible the beasts 
would voluntarily let him alone, and this without the 
interference of God or any of his angels. 

Those, however, who choose to think that a miracle 
was performed in this case, and are of the opinion that 
God caused the mouths of the beasts to be closed, so 
they could not bite his servant Daniel, certainly have 
the right to entertain such belief. How would such 
persons like to make the test, by having a dozen 
priests make long prayers over them, imploring the 



DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 9 

protection of heaven, and then be thrown into a cage 
with a lot of hungry lions ? Would they be willing 
to trust themselves to the safe keeping of their God 
under such circumstances ? Is God less able, or less 
disposed to stop lions* mouths now, than twenty-five 
hundred years ago ? If he did it thee, why not now ? 
It is our opinion God and augels interfered very little 
with the mouths of lions ; they are, doubtless, left to 
be governed by the natures they are endowed with ; 
and this was the case in Daniel's time as much as now; 
but it being a free country, any one can believe the af- 
fair took place as narrated ; and can also believe it 
was a striking miracle if they can persuade them- 
selves to do so. 

After this Daniel went into the dreaming business, 
and some of his dreams portended great events. One 
of his dreams was in reference to four beasts rising 
from the sea, one of which was like unto a bear with 
three ribs in his mouth and the ribs spoke and uttered 
words. That certainly sounds like a dream and a 
crazy one at that. His second dream was about a 
big ram with lon*^ horns which bore down everything 
before it, till he met a goat, also with along horn, and 
more powerful than he, which proved too much for 
him. 

Daniel's dreams may be of vast importance to the 
human race, and it maybe that God busied himself in 
writing them down for after generations, but if so, the 
world has hardly realized any benefit from it, except to 
have something to quarrel over and puzzle their sim- 
ple minds about. It would seem, God could be able 
to find more important employment. 

Besides dreams, Daniel also had visions wliile 
asleep with his face to the ground, and wherein tUoy 



10 DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 

differed from dreams, is not very clear. One was 
about Michael, the great prince, when he shall stand 
up, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and others 
to everlasting contempt. Daniel enquired of a man 
dressed in linen, and who stood upon the water, how 
it was, and the man told him there would be one 
thousand, two hundred and ninety days before it 
should take place ; but that number of days, and that 
number of years passed, without the vision being ful- 
filled. Thousands are still enquiring, ^' when shall it 
be ?" But old Daniel himself passed off the stage 
without knowing what his vision meant, and we will 
all do the same ; we shall never know what the mean- 
ing of these vision was, for the simple reason that 
there was no meaning in it. Of such dreams and 
chimeras is the Christian creed composed. 



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[.Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 75.J 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



[Delivered before the New York Liberal Association, at 
I Trenor's New Hall, 1266 Broadway, Sunday, Dec. 5th, 1875.] 



As far back in the twilight of human existence as 
we are able to penetrate, we find our race has believed 
in evil spirits, demons, fiends and devils. In the 
night and gloom of man's primitive condition, before 
the light of intelligence and reason illumined his dark, 
uncultured mind, when he was an utter savage and 
lived in caves and fed upon the wild fruits of the 
earth and the carcasses of such animals as in unequal 
conflict he was able to subdue and slay, he first be- 
came aware of the forces and powers of nature, and 
that they often caused him pain and discomfort. He 
felt the burning rays of the sun, the storms and tem- 
pests, and the cold winds and biting frosts of winter. 
These annoyed him and deprived him of enjoyment, 
and he soon regarded them as enemies. That which 
contributed to his pleasure or comfort was good ; tha^ 



2 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

which prevented his happiness and enjoyment wa« 

evil. 

Thus, in the childhood stage of his existence, and 
while he was unable to comprehend the true nature 
of these forces he soon learned to regard them as 
good or bad beings, which alternately pleased or dis- 
pleased him. Being unable to realize the possibility 
of a force or result similar to himself, acting without 
extraneous aid, he naturally decided that the various 
forces of nature were the movements of invisible be- 
ings, some good and others bad. 

As his observation and knowledge slowly enlarged, 
he perceived an increasing number of agencies and 
forces that affected him for good or ill, and, conse- 
quently, the numbers of these invisible beings greatly 
multiplied ; so much so, that a god or a demon was 
stationed by him at every waterfall, every river, 
every lake ; in the woods, in the groves, in the shady 
dells, in the zephyrs, in the breezes, in the gales, in 
the hurricanes ; in the north wind, the south wind, 
the east wind and the west wind ; in day and night, 
in morning, noonday, and evening; in spring, sum- 
mer, autumn, and winter; in fact he imagined and 
assigned a god, a demon, a sprite, a fairy, a gnome, 
to every form of matter and motion, and every place 
and condition of which he was able to take cognizance ; 
and as to him there seemed to be more bad than good, 
it is not strange that his demons or devils greatly out- 
numbered his deities. As these imaginary spirits 
caused him disquietude, and interfered more directly 
with his happiness, his attention was more called to 
them and his ingenuity was taxed to please and placate 
them. To these he addressed his prayers and sup- 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 3 

' plications, as upon them he wished to make the most 
favorable impression. 

Crude and ignorant as primitive man was in this 
state of animism, he wished a representative for the 
sub -deities, sprites and devils alluded to, and he en- 
dowed numerous objects in nature with these invisi- 
ble existences, and among such objects were cats, 
dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, birds, reptiles, fishes and 
numerous inanimate substances, as plants of numer- 
ous kinds, blocks of wood, stones, crude images of 
clay, etc., etc. This was the condition of feticism 
which all primitive nations had to pass through, and 
which led to more advanced ideas. 

As man's intellectual powers enlarged, as he became 
able to imperfectly reason from cause to effect ; as he 
learned to develop a crude language by which he 

. could converse with his fellows, he was enabled to 
take higher views of the forces of nature which he 

^ came in contact with, and he began to have more 
comprehensive views of the nature of good and evil, 
and to assign them antagonistic positions in the world 
around him. It did not require long for him to per- 
ceive that the sun was the source of light and heat, 
and all vegetable and animal life. He regarded this 
orb as the great deity that caused all good result s, and 
that its absence was the source of evil. Thus light 
and heat became to him great goods, and darkness and 
cold, great evils — the one a god, the other a devil, in 
perpetual warfare with each other, and in turn bless- 
ing and cursing the human sace and all that has life. 
These opposite principles became fully personified as 
God and Devil, in the wake of each of which were 
numerous subordinates, as we have seen. 

That the original condition of man was on the low 



4 AN HOUB WITH THE DEVIL. 

animal, savage plane alluded to, has, by the develop- 
ments and acquisitions of science become so well 
established in the minds of the better informed por- 
tions of our race, that the fact is hardly longer ques- 
tioned except by theologians and their supporters who 
have an interest in perpetuating the ancient supersti- 
tions handed down from former ages, and a system of 
faith which they learned in their childhood to re- 
gard as divine revelation. ''Pre-historic archaeology 
shows that man, as first presented to our view, was a 
low, ignorant, brutal savage." Lenormant, in his 
Ancient History," (Vol. I. p. 25,) says: /'To find the 
most ancient vestige of the existence and the indus- 
try of man, we must go back to that period which 
geologists call quarternary — the period immediately 
preceding the commencement of the present geologic- 
al epoch. The arms and utensils of this premature 
age are, for the most part, pointed axes of fiint, form- 
ed by breaking off large splinters. We can easily see 
that these flints, whose white coating proves their 
great antiquity, were intended to cut, to cleave, and to 
pierce. Some of these stones are scrapers, which 
were used, no doubt, to clean the inside of skins 
which the savages of the Stone Age used as a defense 
against the cold. We may even form a pretty cor- 
rect idea of their mode of life. The cultivation of 
the soil and the domestication of animals were un- 
known. They wandered in the forest and inhabited 
natural caverns in the mountains. Every branch of 
the human race, without exception, has passed through 
the three stages of the *'age of stone," and its traces 
have everywhere been proven. . . . There is no 
necessary sychronism between these three stages in 
different parts of the world. The Stone Age is a 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. D 

period that cannot be chronologically determined, but 
a state of human progress which, in different coun- 
tries, varied enormously in date. Entire populations 
have been discovered, who, at the close of the last 
century, and even in our own day, J^ave not passed 
out of the Stone Age." 

Learned geologists differ as to the number of thou- 
sand years that have passed since man's era on the 
earth ; some have estimated the time at one hundred 
and fifty thousand years, while others place the 
time at a lower figure. There are few, who, judg- 
ing from the fossilized human remains found in an- 
cient caves and under deposits in the early formations, 
and from the wearing and changing in the beds of 
rivers since such deposits have taken place, that not 
less than forty thousand years have rolled away since 
man has inhabited the earth. Lyell, Hitchcock, 
Dana, Denton and other distinguished geologists con- 
cur in this opinion. 

Prof. Whitney, our American philologist, says: 
*' Modern science is proving, by the most careful and 
exhaustive study of man and his works, that our race 
began its existence on earth at the bottom of the 
scale, instead of at the top, and has gradually been 
working upward; that human powers have had a his- 
tory of development ; that all the elements of culture 
— as the arts of life, art, science, language, religion, 
philosophy — have been wrought out by slow and pain- 
ful efforts, in the conflict between the soul and mind 
of man on the one hand, and external motion on the 
other, a conflict in which man has, in favored races 
and under exceptional conditions of endowment and 
circumstance, been triumphantly the victor, and is 
still going on to new conquests. For ourselves, we 



6 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

heartily hold this latter view, deeming it to be estab- 
lished already on a firm basis, soon to be made im- 
pregnable. " 

Edward Clodd, an eminent English writer, in his 
''Childhood of the World,'* says: '*Man was once 
wild, rough anS savage, frightened at his own shad- 
ow, and still more at the roar of the thunder and the 
quiver of lightning, which he thought were the clap- 
ping of the wings and the flashing of the eyes of the 
angry spirit as he came flying from tha sun. . . . 
There are several reasons for believing that man was 
once wild and naked, and that only by slow degrees 
did he become clothed and civilized. There have 
been found in Europe, Asia, Africa and America ; 
but especially in Europe, thousands of tools and 
weapons used by savages now living in various parts 
of the earth, and among whom no traces of a past civ- 
ilization can be found. One of the first things which 
man needed was some sharp-edged tool, harder than 
the thing he wished to cut. He knew nothing of the 
metals, and he th erefore made use of the stones lay- 
ing about. Men of science have given the name 
*' Age of Stone," to that far off time when stone was 
used for weapons and implements. These oldest 
stone weapons have been chiefly found in places 
known as the '' drift," and buried under ground and 
clay and stones, which have been drifted or carried 
down by rivers in their ceaseless flow. In those 
early days of man's history have wild animals shared 
Europe with him. There were mammoths, or 
wooly haired elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamus- 
es; there were cave-lions, cave-bears, cave-hyenas, 
and other beasts of a much larger size than any found 
in the world at this day. Tiiat they lived at the 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 7 

same time man did, is certain ; because under layers 
cf earth their bones have been found side by side 
with his and with the weapons which he made. Year 
after year man learnt to shape his tools and weapons 
better, until really well-formed spear-heads, daggers, 
hatchets, hammers, and other implements were made, 
and at a far later date he had learnt the art of polish- 
ing them. The older age is called the ''Old Stone 
Age," and the latter the '' Newer Stone Age." The 
better shaped tools and weapons have been chiefly 
found in caves which were hollowed by water, ages 
before any living thing dwelt there. These caves 
were used by man, not only to live in, but also to 
bury their dead in; and from the different remains 
found in and near them, it is thought that feasts were 
held when the burials took place, and food and weap- 
ons were placed with the dead because their friends 
thought such things were needed by them as they 
traveled on their journey to the other world. , . . 
There is a large cavern in Brixham, on the south 
coast of Devonshire, which was discovered fourteen 
years ago through the falling in of a part of the roof. 
The floor is of stalagmite, or particles of lime, which 
have been brought down from the roof by the drop- 
ping of water, and became hardened into stone again. 
In this floor, which is about a foot in thickness, were 
found bones of the reindeer and cave-bear, while be- 
low it was a red loamy mass, fifteen feet thick in 
some parts, in which were buried flint flakes, or 
knives, and bones of the mammoth. Beneath this 
was a bed of gravel, more than twenty feet thick, in 
which flint flakes and small bones were found, includ- 
ing the bones of bears and wooly elephants. As it is 
known these flakes of flint were chipped by thQ hands 



8 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

of man, it is not hard to prove he lived in this coun- 
try when those animals roamed over it. 

You may ask, what proof have we that the bones 
of these creatures are so old? Apart frorii the fact 
that, for many centuries, no living mammoth has been 
seen, we have the finding of its bones buried at a 
goodly depth; and as it is certain no one would 
take the trouble to dig a grave to put them in, there 
must be some other cause for the mass (si loam under 
which they are found There are several ways by 
whicli the various bones may have got into the cave. 
The creatures to which they belonged may have died 
upon the hillside, and their bones may have washed 
into the cave; or they may have sought refuge, or 
what in the case I am now describing, seems most 
likely, lived therein; but, be this as it may, we have 
to account for the thirty -five feet of loam and gravel 
in which their remains are buried. The agent that 
thus covered them from view for long, long years, is 
that active tool of nature, which, before the day when 
no living thing was upon the earth, and ever since, 
has been cutting through rocks, opening the deep 
valleys, shaping the highest mountains, hollowing 
out the lowest caverns, and which is carrying the soil 
from one place to another to form new lands where 
now the deep sea rolls. It is water which carried that 
deposit into Brixham cavern and covered the bones, 
and which, since the days that mammoth, and bear, 
and reindeer lived in Devonshire, has scooped out the 
surrounding valleys one hundred feet deeper. And 
although the time which water takes to deepen a 
channel, or eat out a cavern, depends upon the speed 
with which it flows, you may judge that the quickest 
stream works slowly to those ^who watch it, when I 



AN H«)UR WITH THE DEVIL. 9 

tell you that the river Thames, flowing at its present 
rate, takes 11,470 years to scoop out Us valley one foot 
in depth lower. Men of science have, therefore, 
some reason for believing that the flint weapons were 
made by men who lived many thousands of years 
ago." Science is thus teaching us the great age of 
the earth, and the great antiquity of the human race 
upon it. 

These great facts are very damaging to current the- 
ological dogmas, and pointedly disagree with the 
teachings of a pseudo revelation. In matters of this 
kind, however, science is the arbiter which the world 
will accept, and it is in vain for the adherents of ob- 
solete theories to attempt to push her aside. It be- 
ing, however, our present purpose to look a little 
after the Devil, we will waive a further consideration 
of the subject at present. 

As mankind made further advances in the domain 
of ifltelligence and reason, he also accepted wider 
views of the good and bad principles in nature ; and 
different nations elaborated settled opinions as to the 
nature of evil. Thus the theologies and the mytholo- 
gies of the olden times gradually emerged from the 
primitive, crude mental condition of the race. We 
will briefly glance at some of the more prominent 
nationalities and t]ieir evil deities and devils. 

In India, that cradle-land of theology and religious 
■superstition, was gotten i/p thousands of years ago, a 
trinity, consisting of Brahma, Yishnou and Siva — the 
Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. The third 
personage in this trinity, if not really a devil, was the 
destructive element and the cause of death and disor- 
ganization. It is needless to say here, that this 
trinity was believed in long anterior to the one adopt- 



10 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

ed in connection with the Jewish God, known a^ the 
Christian trinity, but such is the fact. 
The Hindoos also believed in a ** legion of Evil 

Spirits, called Rakshasas, who had a prince named 
Eavana; also in numerous classes of good and evil 
spirits, called Sooras and Assooras, which they be- 
lieved to be step-brothers in perpetual hostility, to 
illustrate the supposed antagonism between spirit and 
matter. Wicked spirits were generally described as 
giants, and were often said to have a great serpent for 
their leader. They were continually aiming to do in- 
jury to mankind, and fought desperate battles with 
Indra and his Spirits of Light. They would have 
taken his Paradise by storm, and subverted the whole 
order of the Universe, if Brahma had not sent Vish- 
nou to circumvent their plans. To perform this mis- 
sion successfully, he assumed various forms at differ- 
ent times, and was twice incarnated in a human body 
and dwelt among mortals " — another instance, show- 
ing that a later mythology was able to appropriate an 
idea, however fallacious its origin. 

The worshipers of Siva believed he had numerous 
wives according to his various titles in the multifari- 
ous departments of distinction or change. Under the 
name of Iswaras he was wedded to Isa, supposed to 
represent Nature, which, in all languages, is meta- 
phorically called she. As changer of the seasons and 
promoter of germination, he was united to Parvati, 
Goddess of Illusions and Enchantmonts. As Time, 
the Destroyer, his mate was the dark goddess, Call, 
with four Imnds full of deadly weapons, a necklace 
of human skulls, and a girdle of slaughtered giant's 
hands. Thus, liko the numerous gods and devils who 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 11 

have succeeded him, we see he had a special fondness 
for females. 

There was early in India a universal belief in evil 
spirits of various ranks and degrees of power, from 
gigantic demons, who attack the orbs of light, down 
to the malicious little Pucks who delight in small 
mischief. These were supposed to enter the minds of 
men, producing bad thoughts and criminal actions, 
and also to take possession of the body, producing in- 
sanity, fits and all manner of diseases. It was s up- 
posed they could be cast out only by some form of 
holy words, pronounced by a priest, with duly pre- 
scribed ceremonies. 

The Egyptians, vieing in antiquity with the Hin- 
doos, had also their evil spirit or devil. His name 
was Typho, and he was the brother of the god Osiris, 
who was for a long time the principal deity of that 
ancient nation of literature, theology and art. 

It is not a little curious that, in all the mythologies 
of the world, the god and the devil have been closely 
connected by the ties of consanguinity. In India the 
creating and destroying principles were united in the 
same personage. In Egypt the beneficent and de- 
structive gods were twin-brothers. In Persia, Or- 
muzd, the King of Light,. and Ahriman or Ahrim- 
anes, the Prince of Darkness, both emanated from 
the Eternal One. In the Grecian and Roman mythol- 
ogies, Pluto was the son of a god, as were also Yulcan 
and Pan. In the Christian mythology, the Devil, if 
not the offspring of God, was of his direct crea- 
tion, an honorable member of his household, and was 
for a long time on the most intimate terms with him. 

In the ancient Persian mythology, the evil spirit, 
Ahriman, became jealous of the first-born. In con- 



12 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

sequence of his pride and envy, the Eternal One con- 
demned him to remain three thousand years in the 
dark realm of shadows, where no ray of light could 
penetrate. During this time Ormuzd created the 
firmament, the heavenly orbs and the celestial spirits 
without the knowledge of his unfortunate brother 
Ahriman. When the latter had served out his time 
in darkness and returned, the dazzling beauty revived 
his old feeling of envy, and he resolved to compete 
with Ormuzd in everything. He created seven spirits, 
called arch-devs, in opposition to an equal number 
of good spirits in the service of Ormuzd, and placed 
them on the seven planets to substitute evil in place 
of good. He also created twenty-eight spirits, called 
Devs, to counteract the good Izeds, by spreading all 
manner of disorder and distress. The most powerful 
and pernicious of these was an impure serpent, with 
two feet, named Ashmogh. He subsequently pro- 
duced a crowd of genii to oppose the beneficent work 
of th^ Fervers, the good angels in the employ of 
Ormuzd. Thus the contest became violent and con- 
tinued. 

Ormuzd, to arrest the increase of evil, made an egg 
containing kindly spirits, and Ahriman, to equal him, 
made one containing evil spirits, and then break them 
together, thus liberating the good and bad spirits to 
engage in eternal cohliict. Ahriman also made the 
wolves and tigers, and serpents and venomous insects 
to annoy the good. By eating a certain kind of fruit, 
he transformed himself into a serpent and went glid- 
ing upon the earth to tempt human beings. His 
devils entered the bodies of men and women and pro- 
duced all manner of diseases, and also sensuality, 
falsehood, slander and revenge. Into every part of 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 13 

tlie world tlisy introduced discord and death. When 
Orinuzd tried to lead his hosts against Ahriman, they 
deserted him and joined the enemy, thus enabling 
evil to gain and hold the ascendancy on the earth for 
three thousand ;^ ears. 

Here we see a very fair prototype for the later ideas 
of {jtm-ology which prevailed in the world, and the 
word Dev only needed the addition of two letters to 
give us our own illustrious Devil. 

In the Grecian and Roman mythology, t he powers 
of evil were not concentrated in one individual, but 
the honors were divided among a number. Hades or 
Pluto reigned in a dismal, subteranean, sulphureous 
region, and wore a stern, gloomy countenance, and 
presided over deaths and funerals. He was so much 
of a monster no one of the goddesses was willing to take 
him f OF a partner, so one fine day he stole upon earth 
' and kidnapped the beautiful Proserpine, carried her 
off in his chariot to hell and forced her to become his 
wife and the queen of the infernal regions. 

The Fates and Furies were attendants upon Pluto, 
and assisted him in the diabolical business he had in 
hand. Charon was an old decrepit, long-bearded 
fellow, and was the ferryman of hell. He waited 
patiently to carry over the souls of the dead, which 
came flocking to him promiscuously and in troops, 
but was particular to collect the fare from each. 
The monsters at the entrance of hell were those fatal 
evils which bring destruction and death upon man- 
kind, and by which the inhabitants of the infernal 
regions were constantly augmented ; these evils were 
care, sorrow, disease, old age, fright, famine, want; 
labor, sting of conscience, fire, fraud, strife, war, and 
death. Cerberus must not be forgotten; he was a 



14 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

dog with, three heads, and whose body was covered 
in a terrible manner with snakes instead of hair. He 
was the porter of hell and was begotten by Typhon. 

Of the heathen nations and pagan systems of 
religions, all had their devils and evil spirits. But 
we must not dwell too long upon the devils of 
heathenism; our principal business is with the Devil 
of the Christian mythology, and to him we must now 
pay our particular respects. We must not suffer the 
ideal devils of olden times to deprive this equally 
mythical character of his due share of attention. 

As every principal system of religion has found a 
necessity for a Devil, as an adversary and an antago- 
nist to the all-ruling power of good, so Christianity 
must needs follow suit, and it was perhaps, fortunate 
for the founders of the system, that inasmuch as their 
original inventive powers seemed not to be of the 
highest order, that they were able to find plenty of 
models of devils already at hand, as well as all the 
other pagan dogmas of which the Christian system- is 
composed and which they so freely appropriated. 

The Hebrews had a very indefinite idea of the 
Devil, and Moses himself threw but a small amount 
of light upon this dark subject. Is it not a little 
curious that the word Devil is not mentioned once in 
the Jewish Bible. The word Devils is used four 
times (Lev. xvii. 7. Deut. xxxii. 17. 2 Chron. xi. 15. 
and Ps. cvi. 37. but means simply evil spirits or idols, 
and not the old archfiend, and eternal adversary of 
the Almighty who was especially discovered after the 
Old Testament was written and of which Christians 
are in such perpetual terror. 

It is an important fact also that the name '* Satan," 
another prominent name for the Devil, is used but five 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 15 

times in the Old Testament — twice in the book of Job, 
once in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, in Ps. cvi. 6, and Zach. iii. 9. 
Except in Job, neither passage alludes to the Chris- 
tian Devil, but simply implies an adversary and not a 
personal being. The first is the meaning of the original 
Hebrew word. In Chronicles it says Satan provoked 
David to number the people. In narrating the same 
occurrence in Kings, an earlier history, it says: " God 
moved him to number the people," so as both pass- 
ages must be true, it follows that both beings are one, 
and that at all events, it was not the Christian Devil 
that was meant. 

Before we proceed farther in this interesting his- 
tory, it will perhaps be well to give the various 
names by which his Infernal Highness is known, so 
that there may be no possible doubt as to whom we 
have under consideration. Among the titles accorded 
in the Bible to this distinguished personage are, 
Serpent, The Old Serpent, Satan, Devil, Lying 8pti% 
Lucifer, Son of (Tie Morning, Prince of Darkness, Prince 
of the Power of the Air, The Adversary, The Tempter^ 
The Accuser, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Angelof lAgh^ 
Mammon, Belial, Beelzebub, The Enemy, The Evil One, 
Legion, The Foul Spirit, The Unclean Spirit, The Chd 
of this Worlds The Great Bed Dragon, Abaddon, ApoH- 
yon^ The Destroyer, etc. , eie. In outside circles he has 
a few additional names, some of which occur to us at 
this moment, and we will mention them. Zamiel, 
The Archfiend, Asmodeus, Mephistopheles, His Satanic 
Majesty, Old Nick, Old SpUtfoot, The Old Gentleman, 
The Old Scratch, The Deuce, The Dickens, Old Homy, 
Old Harry, Prince of Brimstone, King of the NetJier 
Utcimis, The Old Boy, etc., etc. Here is certainly an 
array of names quite sufficient for one poor Devil, and 



16 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

if he could get anything for them, he might sell a 
score or two of them and have plenty left. 

His Imperial Lowness is first introduced to us in 
the Bible story in the Garden of Eden, as a precocious 
snake who could stand erect on the tip of his tail and 
talk human language so artistically as to persude, in 
about fifteen minutes, the most perfect woman that 
ever breathed, and right fresh from the hands of her 
maker, to eat a fine looking specimen of apple from 
the workshop and the same workman, but under 
whose fair skin there was poison and damnation 
enough to perpetually curse countless millions of hu- 
man beings who for thousands of years succeeded 
her. That was indeed a villainous but cunning old 
snake to thus completely thwart the King of Heaven, 
the Eternal God, of all knowledge and power, and the 
Maker and Euler of Heaven and Earth ; and it was a 
most pernicious and deadly kind of fruit that could, 
by simply being masticated by our grandmother, thus 
inexorably damn to hop eless, perpetual and excrucia- 
ting torture countless quintillions of her offspring. 
Why did God ever make such a snake? Why did he 
ever make such an apple? Why did he ever make 
such a woman? Why should he have created the 
possibilities 'for such a terrible catastrophe? How 
could he have made such an egregious blunder? 
Who is able to answer these momentous questions? 
It is a painful subject to dwell upon, and let us leave 
it at once. 

There is consolation in knowing (though it is rather 
inadequate to the occasion) that the old serpent who 
thus defeated God, and ruined the world by one 
master-stroke of cunning, was condemned to crawl on 
his belly, to eat dust, and to have the organs of speech 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 17 

taken from him. And we are glad to be able to state 
to you on this occasion that the old serpent has neyer 
stood on his tail nor spoken a word since he performed 
that apple trick. We fear, however, he has not ob- 
served the sentence about eating dust. No naturalist, 
no snake hunter, nor snake charmer has in these six 
thousand years ever caught a snake eating dust, but 
they have frequently been detected in swallowing 
frogs, toads, mice, birds, etc., and it has been observ- 
ed, too, that this villainous beast always insists upon 
taking his food alive. We would be willing to sign a 
petition to the high court of heaven that this vile 
enemy of God and man be made to abide by the 
original sentence and eat nothing but dust. 

Some have had the audacity, or the hardihood, to 
doubt whether this snake that so early engaged in the 
apple business and thus cornered the market, was 
identically the same Devil who afterwards entered 
into a speculation with God in the matter of Job, the 
putting of his children to death, killing off all his live 
stock and covering him from head to foot with the 
most terrible boils that was ever heard of, and the 
same muscular Devil, who, on a later occasion trans- 
ported the Son of God to the top of a very high moun- 
tain and also to the highest pinnacle of the temple; 
but our reliable, disinterested clergymen, who were 
better posted in all matters pertaining to the Devil, 
than any of the rest of us, assure us in the most un- 
mistakable manner that such is the fact, and we are 
not at liberty to doubt them. 

It is to be regretted that, though the devilish snake 
was doomed to crawl on the face of the earth and not 
to speak a loud word from that time forth, still 
matters did not move smoothly between God and 



18 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

man. Although the serpent was placed at such great 
disadvantage, he seemed to still have power enough 
to pervert the whole human race and to alienate them 
from God to such a degree, that he got verjr sick of 
the enterprise und heartily wished he had never un- 
dertaken it. He saw no way out of the muddle he 
had gotten into, except to drown the entire human 
race and all the animal kingdom, save the fishes and 
one man and his family. These were heroic meas- 
ures, truly, but the case was desperate. Mankind 
was rapidly going to the Devil any way, and he de- 
cided to send them all by water. 

It must have been an interesting sight to those old 
antediluvians who had lived to the mature age of 
nine hundred years and over, to see the animals gath- 
ing from all quarters of the earth, of however diverse 
nature and characteristics, filing into the Ark two by 
two, wolves and lambs, tigers and kids, hawks and 
chickens, turkeys and grasshoppers, all in the most 
fraternal and amicable manner, disposing of them- 
selves in the Ark and stowing themselves away like 
cord-wood, and waiting for God to shut them in, 
in pitch darkness, there to remain some thirteen months. 
It is presumable the serpent or the Devil — whichever 
he may have been — was shrewd enough to get into the 
ark before the door was closed, for we see that the ser- 
pent still lives and that the Devil has been in a 
flourishing condition ever since. 

Could he have been drowned beyond all power of 
resuscitation, we could have been better reconciled to 
the merciless drowning of the lambs, the kittens, the 
fawns, the cows, the horses, the camels, the Guinea- 
pigs, the squirrels, the larks, the mocking-birds, the 
bob-o-links, the honey-bees and the butterflies, none 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 19 

of whicli had done any wrong, so far as we are in- 
formed; had the Devil been drowned, we could 
have submitted to the necessary loss of life on the 
other hand; but to realize that they were all drowned, 
and he kept alive, excites our extreme indignation. 

It is to be further regretted, that this immense out- 
lay of life and treasure resulted in so little benefit to 
either God or man, for we are expressly informed that 
the world went on just as bad after, as before. The 
Devil still ruled the hearts of men, thus showing him- 
self, as he has on many other occasions, the smarter 
of the two. 

Although very little is said of the Devil for some 
hundreds of years after that extensive freshet, we 
are not to suppose he was asleep or idle. He is said 
ever to be on the alert, and to let no opportunity pass 
where he can ''turn an honest penny," or to do any 
little job in his line of business. Judging from the 
history of the events occurring between the flood and 
Job's time, and the amount of butchery and killing 
and the various other crimes committed by God's 
peculiar people, as well as the rest of the world, we 
may well suppose he was steadily improving the 
golden moments as they passed. 

Under the name of Satan, the Devil is prominently 
brought to our notice in the book of Job, and he 
is there represented as a very respectable gentleman — 
vastly improved in character and circumstances from 
the time, when in the garden of Eden he was cursed 
to crawl upon his belly all the days of his life. At 
the time of that cursing, it may be supposed God 
had the utmost contempt for him, and despised him 
above all living beings ; but when he is introduced to 
us in Job, there seems to be great cordiality between 



20 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

the two, we are led to suppose that the Devil was 
the Son of God, or at least a close and intimate 
friend. On ''a day when the children of God came 
to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan 
came also among them " (Job. i. 6). The Lord salut- 
ed him in a friendly manner, and asked him whence 
he came. Satan answered: ''From going to and fro 
in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." 
Then the Lord asked him: *'Hast thou considered 
my servant Job, that there is none like him in the 
earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth 
God and escheweth evil?" Satan answered this,ques- 
tion in a true Yankee fashion, by asking another; 
*'Dost Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou 
made a hedge about him, about his house, and about 
all that he has on every side? Thou hast blessed the 
work of his hands, and his substance is increased in 
the land. Put forth thy hand now and touch all that 
he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.'* To this 
banter the Lord, with much magnanimity towards 
the Devil, (more, surely, than to the good man 
Job,) said: " Behold, all that he hath is in thy pow- 
er; only upon himself put not forth thy hand." 
Upon this Satan took his leave, to enter upon the 
work of depriving the good man of his wealth, ac- 
cording to God's suggestion. 

This interview and conversation between God and 
the Devil suggests a few thoughts. First. As to the 
sons of God: who were they? Where did they come 
from? How many sons had he? Who were their 
mothers? Were they legitimate or illegitimate? What 
was their occupation? Where did they go to? Were 
they divine or human, or half and half? Was Satan 
one of them? Where are they at the present time? 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 21 

Second. How is it that the Lord, who is omnis- 
cient and sees and knows all things, should be under 
the necessity of asking the Devil where he came 
from? Is he not expected to know where everybody 
is at all times, especially his aich-enemy, who is con- 
stantly working against him? If God is everywhere 
present, and his all-seeing eye is always open, how is 
it, if Satan was constantly walking up and down the 
earth, that God did not sometimes meet him? It 
would seem that Satan was an excellent traveler, and 
was looking after the affairs of men better than God 
was. 

Third. While it must be set down as rather of a 
cruel and dishonorable business for God and the 
Devil to thus plot against a righteous man like Job 
who had discharged his duty in all respects, that from 
the account, the ignominy and dishonor of the trans- 
action attaches equally to the two; in fact, God 
would seem to be the most culpable, for it was he 
who first called the Devil's attention to the man Job, 
and it was he who commissioned the Devil to despoil 
liim. 

Fourth. It is painful to read the account that fol- 
lows; how thoroughly Satan executed the commis- 
sion he had received, and how the heart of good old 
Job was made sore by the loss of his oxen, his sheep, 
his camels, his servants, and finally his sons and 
daughters. It is no wonder that in his great grief he 
arose and tore his mantle. Had he torn it into shreds, 
no one could have blamed him. But he endured it 
all manfully, and neither cursed nor blamed. It 
would seem that even the Devil's heart ought to have 
been touched by the good old man's afflictions, and the 
noble resignation with which he bore them, that he 



22 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

would have ceased his persecutions. We must say 
in all the foul deeds that are laid to the Devil, this is 
really the meanest of any that is proved against him. 
Such ignoble conduct cannot be excused even in a 
devil. We must remember however, that God had 
given his consent to it all, and knew all about it. 
Whatever dishonor the Devil gained in that nefarious 
business, God must share with him. 

It seems, further along, that the sons of God came 
together to hold another re-union and Satan came al- 
so to present himself before the Lord as before, when 
God and he had another conversation about the af- 
flicted Job. God asked him again where he came 
from and received the same answer as before. He 
asked the Devil again what he thought of Job, and 
admitted that the Devil had induced him to bring 
afflictions up«n the poor old man without the slight- 
est cause. The Devil's answer was much as before; 
" Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give 
for his life. Put forth thy hand now, and touch his 
bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face.*' 
Then said God, " Behold, he i3 in thy hand; but save 
his life." He virtually said, do what you please with 
the old man ; afflict him and torment him as much as 
you like, so that you don't quite take his life. 
Upon this the Devil again took his departure to carry 
out this new commission. Then follows the recital 
of the bodily suif erings that were visited upopi that 
patient, good man in the shape of boils all over his 
body from the crown of his head to the soles of his 
feet. 

Any person who has had a good sized boil on any 
part of the body, well knows the sufferings it pro- 
duces. No boil has ever yet found the right place to 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 23 

locate to be out of the way. One boil has always 
been found sufficient at a time ; we never saw a per- 
son who wished two at once. One was quite all he 
wished to attend to. But think of a poor victim be- 
ing covered, all over from head to foot. Just think 
of the intense pain and anguish they must produce 
when coming to a head; and when they got to 
running what a time the poor man must have had. 
We pity him now, from the bottom of our heart. Of 
all the sufferings poor mortals have ever been afflicted 
with, we can imagine nothing worse ; and to be kept 
up so long. O, Dear! it is a painful subject and we 
cannot dwell upon it longer. How a decent Devil or 
a good God could stand by and thus wantonly afflict 
a poor, hapless mortal, has always been a mystery to 
us. For the credit and good name of God and the 
Devil both, we have always wished that the picture 
here presented was overdrawn. We would much 
rather that the writer of the drama or story had mis- 
stated the facts, than to think them truly given. If 
it is a fact that the whole human family are in the 
hands of such a God and such a Devil, we would call 
upon the angels to pity and weep. 

After this discreditable piece of business but little 
is said about the Devil in the older part of the Bible. 
Although God's chosen people seemed at all times 
to be very full of the Devil, his name is seldom men- 
tioned till we reach the New Testament, and then the 
Devil is served up in almost every conceivable style. 
At one time he tempts God, or the Son of God — as 
you choose — another time he takes him to the pin- 
nacle of the temple ; again he conveys him to the top 
of a very high mountain where he shows him all the 
kingdoms on both sides of the globe; (we have thought 



24 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

no one but a Devil could perform this difficult feat); 
then he gets into a great many different persons ; one 
was the wild man among the tombs. If the imp was big 
enough and strong enough to carry a god or a man 
around it would seem singular how he oould get into 
a person. In the wild man alluded to, he seems to 
have entered very extensively, for when he came out 
there was enough of him to occupy two thousand 
swine. Whether there were two thousand of the 
de^ ils that got into the man, or whether he divided 
up into two thousand parts when he entered the swine 
has not yet been settled. Seven of him, or seven of 
some devils, seem to have got into Mary Magdalene, 
but how they could make themselves comfortable in 
such a locality is a little mysterious. Jesus, however, 
made them come out ; in fact he made short work of 
dislodging devils. If he possessed such power over 
them it seems ver}^ strange why he did not utterly de- 
molish them, destroy them, or any way to get rid of 
them. 

If Jesus left his bright, happy home in heaven to 
come down to this gloomy world of ours to make 
human beings happy, why did he not with one blow, 
kill the Devil, the cause of all the evil and trouble 
the world has ever known? This would have been a 
work worthy of a God indeed, and vastly more 
effective than simply dying on the cross. If, how- 
ever, God wished to have a Devil in the first place, 
and saw -fit to make him, he probably has his reasons 
for preserving his life. 

It is a debatable question whether the Devil is not 
a very serviceable being to God, and whether there is 
not a kind of partnership between them. In the case 
of Job, they seemed to operate in a joint interest and 



REPLY TO EIlASTUiS F. BROWN. 11 

sible person under any obligation to believe a writer 
when he states such great improbabilities, especially 
when he can be convicted of a score of mis-sta.te- 
ments in other lesser matters ? Is there any virtue ic 
believing a falsehood at any time ? 

We do not say that Jesus never lived, but we do 
say there is no proof that he did. When we consider 
that what are called the ** four gospels " might very 
easily have been written by Eusebius or some of the 
other early fathers, priests or monks who were anx- 
ious to transplant the older pagan mythologies of the 
East into Judea and to re-localize the antique notions of 
India, Persia and Egypt, and when it is known to be 
a fact that almost every incident narrated in the life 
of Jesus had its prototype more than five hundred 
years earlier, in Christna, Buddha, Prometheus and 
many others, it is more easy for a plain, matter-of-fact 
man, who is not biased by early education, to think 
the whole story a borrowed one, rather than that the 
same events of half a millennium before should take 
place over again. Can we justly ascribe to Jesus, 
priority and originality for sentiments and doctrines 
which were positively known to have been taught 
hundreds of years earlier by the Essenes of Alexan- 
dria, and other localities? 

But admitting that Jesus did live, and there were 
doubtless many by the name, the same as there are at this 
day in Spain and Mexico, and as for two thousand years 
there have been Jameses and Joshuas, he was only a 
man who was begotten and born like other human be- 
ings, who lived and died like them, and after he was 
dead did not arise again and go sailing up bodily in 
the air where it is cold enough to freeze a man through 
and through in five minutes. II is praises, his wonders 



12 EEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

and his super-humanity have been so long sung and 
reiterated that thousands of people like Mr. Brown 
have absolutely got to believe that such a remarkable 
person once lived on the earth, and that he was God 
and made the Universe. 

There is no lack of instances where human beings 
of only ordinary traits of character, have had great 
'honors thrust upon them, and especially after death 
have been deified and have been elevated to a niche 
of great eminence in the temple of adulation. In 
olden times it was very common, and even in the last 
century there has been plenty of it. How Napoleon 
Bonaparte has been revered and magnified in all his 
excellent qualities far beyond the reality, constituting 
him a hero, a wonder and almost a demi-god, while 
his enemies saw little in him to admire. How our 
own "Washington, by being extolled, be-praised, and 
always spoken of as a perfect, faultless individual, is 
now revered by millions far beyond his real merits. 
One of the tendencies of the human mind, especially 
the ignorant and superstitious portion, is to ** hero- 
worship. " This, however, will gradually pass away, 
as intelligence and correct thinking gain sway in the 
world. 

If Jesus did live, and if he said every word that is 
attributed to him, why should he be credited with 
great power and wisdom, and with divinity itself, 
when he uttered no better, no wiser, no more God- 
like sayings, than Zoroaster, Buddha, Christna, Con- 
fucius, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and many others 
who lived hundreds of years before him ? Is there a 
virtue in selecting one individual who has lived in 
the past, and in according; to him all the wisdom, all 
the excellence and all the adorable characteristics that 



KEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 13 

belong equally as much, to say the least, to numerous 
other individuals ? Is it iustice or equity to rob one 
individual or many individuals, of the honor and 
credit to which they are fairly entitled, and to bestow 
it upon another no more worthy than themselves ? 

Our friend quotes Theodore Parker. It is rather a 
new thing for Christians to quote him to sustain their 
institution. They neither recognized him as a Chris- 
tian while he lived, nor had scarcely a kind word to, 
say of him when he died. To them he was an Infi- 
del almost equal to Paine or Voltaire. Had we room, 
we think we could quote many of Mr. Parker^s say- 
ings which Mr. Brown would hardly endorse. Theo- 
dore Parker was a great man, and was much farther 
advanced in mental freedom and boldness than the 
great majority of those around him; but he, too, like 
Mr. Brown, had an excessive amount of veneration, 
and he fancied he saw in the character of Jesus a 
great deal to love and admire. 

If Parker did say, on a certain occasion, when he 
had a special point to make, that ' * the Christianity of 
Christ is the highest and most perfect ideal ever pre- 
sented to the longing eyes of man," it was an extrav- 
agant expression, unfounded in truth. We would 
like to have Mr. Brown, or any other individual, show 
wherein the morals or inculcations of Jesus were any 
higher or purer than those taught and believed by 
the persons just named, none of whom claimed to be 
God. It is just as easy for the admirers and wor- 
shipers of Jesus to accord undue reverence to him, as 
it is for the worshipers of Buddha, Christna or Ma- 
homet to do the same by them. Probably no Chris- 
tian devotee can exceed the high degree of adoration 
which the several followers of these great leaders feel 



14 REPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

towards their beau-ideals. We who are without the 
circle can see that all are equally mistaken, and that 
virtue attaches to one no more than another for believ- 
ing what is untrue. 

If Christianity possesses all the excellence and vir- 
tue the world has ever known, is it not singular that 
it has produced more intolerance, more persecution, 
more bloodshed and more death, than any and ail 
other religions the world has ever known t That 
this has been the case, and that the history of Chrii- 
tianity has been written in blood, can be easily 

shown. 

Lord Bacon was truly a wise and a great man, and 
we will be glad if Christians ever become willing to 
accept all the positions he arrived at ; but when he 
said, "a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to 
Atheism, but depth of philosophy bringeth men's 
minds about to religion," it only proves that even great 
minds can err. How is it to-day ? Tne greatest 
minds of the age, the ripest scholars, the soundest 
thinkers, and the most learned scientists, are those 
who have the least faith in theology, revealed relig- 
ion and a personal God. In this category are enroll- 
ed Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Tyndall, Faraday, 
Proctor, Helmholtz, Buchner, Schmidt, Draper, Fiske, 
and numerous others of less distinction ; while in the 
opposite column are found Moody and Sankey, Mrs. 
Grundy, Mrs. Partington, Erastus F. Brown, and i 
unfortunately, too many more. 

If it is a virtue for Mr. Brown to believe in his ; 
myth, it is equally a virtue for the little girl who 
hangs up her stocking, to believe in her myth, Santa 
Glaus. And it is not strange, that, when she was 
told by her mother, that she was now getting large 



BEFLY TO ERASTUS F. BE OWN. 15 

enough to lay aside her dolls and playthings, and be 
a woman; that there was no such person as Santa 
Claus, that, when her cherished ideals were thus so 
cruelly destroyed, she should reply in this wise : *' Now 
Ma! If you have been telling me a story all this time, 
about Santa Claus, how do I know but you have been 
telling me a story about Jesus, too ? If there is no 
Santa Claus, I don't believe there is any Jesus Christ 
either ; there is as much proof of one as the other." 
And the little child was about right. If, in the opin- 
ion of her mother, it was time for her to lay aside 
childishness and error, and not believe longer in 
myths and fallacies, is it not also time for Mr. Brown 
and thousands of others to do the same, and embrace 
the universal truths which exist in nature and reason, 
and which depend neither upon Moses, Buddha, Zo- 
roaster, Confucius, Christna, Plato, Aristotle, Christ, 
Mahomet, Luther, nor Joseph Smith, but which exist 
inherently and eternally in the boundless Universe. 
May he, and numerous others, early come to see the 
truth as it is clearly brought to light by science and rea- 
son, which cause myths, superstition, and fables to 
step to the rear and to return to the shades of oblivion. 



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[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 77.] 



The Fear of Death. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the unfortunate legacies which the Chris- 
tian religion has bequeathed to mankind is the fear of 
death and a perpetual dread that the condition of 
existence after this life is one of unhappiness and 
ceaseless torment. Among all the religions of the 
world, in all lands, and in all systems of faith, none 
have inculcated with such fears and apprehensions 
of death and what is to succeed it, as Christianity has 
done and is still doing. The priests — the founders and 
promulgators of Christianity — have so persistently 
held up to the credulous gaze of the masses, a picture 
of a cruel and revengeful God, who, not content with 
the afflictions, adversities and trials which make up 
much of the experience of his creatures in this life, 
has devised that their existence shall not terminate 
with death, but that they shall live eternally, and the 
far greater portion be doomed to endless torture and 
the most terrible sufierings of which the mind is capa* 



JJ THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

ble of conceiving. They have painted the lurid 
flames of hell, the horrid demons which preside there, 
and the utter wretchedness of the damnied in such 
vivid colors, that the ignorant multitudes have accept- 
ed it all as truth, and it is not strange that, for many- 
hundreds of years, God has been looked upon as 
a most cruel and merciless tyrant who created a devil 
or devils to lead his children astray, and then to tor- 
ture them through the endless ages of eternity for the 
same. It is not strange that, believing this, death has 
been so dreaded, and feared, as the greatest enemy of 
the race. 

The vindictive character which has been attributed 
to Deity, the malicious disposition assigned to his 
important agent, the Devil, the forebodings of a ter- 
rible day of judgment, when all who ever lived upon 
the earth are to be gathered together and judged, the 
principal portion to be hopelessly doomed to the 
agonies of a fearful, never-ending hell, have been 
accepted by millions of human beings as truths, and 
have caused more unhappiness to the race than all 
other creeds in the world. Death has been made 
replete with terror and the future existence with 
unutterable fear and apprehension. Nothing has so 
embittered life ; nothing has so detracted from the 
comparative happiness human beings might have 
enjoyed as these abhorrent doctrines have done. It 
is impossible to compute the fear, the terror and the 
dread that the credulous and confiding have been 
made to suffer from this source. Doubts and most 
harrowing fears have tortured the minds of unnum- 
bered millions of our race. Their own future condi- 
tion has not only been a matter of the most painful 
anxiety to them, but the welfare of loved friends and 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 6 

companions, husbands and wives, brothers and sis- 
ters, parents and children has been of the most intense 
interest, with the most distressing misgivings. Yes, 
these dreadful fears and forebodings have embittered 
the happiness and destroyed the comfort of immense 
numbers of human beings! Could the mental agony- 
be computed which the~belief in a vindictive God, a 
cruel Devil and a burning hell had produced where 
the Christian religion has prevailed, it would be 
enough to appall the stoutest hearts and awaken the 
strongest condemnation against such a monstrous 
creed. 

Not only have these doctrines operated to destroy 
the peace of mind of individuals, but the belief in a 
vindictive, revengeful God — who has been the source 
of the most relentless and cruel persecutions, which 
man has been made to suffer — the belief in a merci- 
less God has made cruel and blood-thirsty worship- 
ers. It has overthrown mental liberty, individual right 
and personal safety. It has caused human blood to 
flow in rivers, and been the pretext for the taking of 
human life in numbers variously estimated at from 
seventy-five millions to one hundred and fifty millions 
of the race. The record is the most fearful of any por- 
tions of man's history. Most truly did Robert G. 
Ingersoll, in one of his bursts of eloquence, exclaim : 
** There can be little liberty on earth while men wor- 
ship a tyrant in heaven," and with equal truth may it 
be said, tTiere can be little happiness for the human race 
who believe in a creative Qod^ who consigns his creatures 
to the torments of a never ending hell 

How many thousands, and millions, have passed 
through life in a perfect dread of the terrible doom 
they feared awaited them at death ! How they have 



4 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

shuddered and trembled at the very thought of pass- 
ing from this world! In their waking and sleeping- 
hours it has been a constant nightmare to them. 
How many parents have feared lest when the vale is 
passed that their beloved children will be forever sep- 
arated from themselves — one or two, possibly, being 
admitted within the gates of the beautiful city, while 
the larger portion are cast down into the horrid, sul- 
phurous gulf. How many husbands and wives, rela- 
tions and friends, acquaintances and strangers have 
been thus racked by fears, tortured by forebodings, 
and haunted with misgivings in contemplating the 
probable fearful destiny wbich awaited them I How 
many simple, honest-hearted people have passed 
wretched lives by this constant fear of death and eter- 
nity! Whether they have secured a passport that 
will take them safely into the regions of happiness, or 
whether their doom is down in the prisons of the 
damned, is the one ever-recurring question which 
they are unable to solve and which is such a constant 
source of apprehension and mental agony. 

If the reader will pardon us for a few moments we 
will make a few extracts from the sermons of Chris- 
tian Clergymen and Christian writers, touching the 
subject of hell, that it may be better understood 
whence come the terrors and harrowing fears to which 
we have alluded. 

In Baxter's ** Saint's Rest," he thus rapturously ad- 
dresses himself to sinners: 

"Your torment shall be universal. , . . The soul 
and the body shall each have its torments. The guilt of 
their sins will be to damned souls like tinder to gunpow- 
der, to make the flames of hell take hold of them with 
fury. . . . The eyes shall be tortured with sights of 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 5 

horror, and hosts of devils and damned souls. The 
ears shall be tortured with the howlings and curses of 
their companions in torments. Their smell shall b© tor- 
tured with the fumes of brimstone, and the liquid mass 
of eternal fire shall prey upon every part. . . .No 
drop of water shall be allowed to cool their tongues; no 
moment of respite permitted to relieve their agonies." 

The saintly Bunyan gives this delectable picture : 

"All the devils in hell will be with thee howling and 
roaring, screeching and yellimg in such a hideous man- 
ner, that thou wilt be at thy wit's end, and be ready to run 
stark mad again from anguish and torment. . . . Here 
thou must lie and fry, and scorch, and broil, and burn 
for evermore." 

The cherished divine, Jonathan Edwards, among a 
vast amount he uttered upon this favorite topic of 
hell, said: 

** The saints in glory will be far more sensible how 
dreadful the wrath of God is, and will better understand 
how terrible the sufferings of the damned are, yet this 
will be no occasion of grief to them, but rejoicing. They 
will not be sorry for the damned ; it will cause no uneasi- 
ness or dissatisfaction to them, but on the contrary, when 
they see this sight, it will occasion rejoicing, and excite 
them to joyful praises." 

The Rev. Mr. Benson, a prominent Methodist com- 
mentator of England, uses this language : 

"Infinite justice arrests their guilty souls and confines 
them in the dark prisons of hell, till they have satisfied 
all the demands by their personal sufferings, which, alas I 
they never can do. . . . God is present in hell in his 
infinite justice and almighty wrath as an unauenchable 
sea of liquid fire, where the wicked must drink in ever- 
lasting torture. His fiery indignation kindles and his 
incensed f urv feeds the fiame of their torment, while his 
powerful presence and operation maintain their being 
and renders all their powers most acutely sensible, thus. 



6 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

setting the keenest edge upon their pain, and making it 
cut most intolerably deep. He will exert all his divine at- 
tributes to make them as wretched as the capacity of their 
natures will admit. . . . Number the stars in the firm- 
ament, the drops of rain, the sands on the sea shore, and 
when thou hast finished the calculation, sit down and 
number all the ages of woe. Let every star, every drop 
every grain of sand, represent one million of tormentiny 
ages; and know that as many more millions still remain 
behind, and yet as many more behind them, and so on 
without end." 

The Rev. Mr. Ambrose, in a sermon on Dooms -day, 
drew this picture : 

'* When the damned have drunken down whole draughts 
of brimstone one day, they must do the same another 
day. The eye shall be tormented with the sight of devils i 
the ears with the hideous yellings and outcries of the 
damned in flames ; the nostrils shall be smothered, as it 
were, with brimstone ; the tongue, the hand, the foot and 
every pan shall /r?/ inflames" 

The Rev. Mr. Emmons, a sound orthodox, in his 
"Volume of Sermons," has this choice bit: 

" The happiness of the elect in heaven will in part con- 
sist in watching the torments of the damned in hell. And 
among these it may be their own children, parents, hus- 
bands, wives, and friends on earth. One part of the busi- 
ness of the blest is to celebrate the doctrine of reproba- 
tion. While the decree of reprobation is eternally execu- 
ting on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will 
be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy 
whclnstead of taking the part of those miserable objects* 
will sing. 'Amen, hallelujah ; praise the Lord.' " 

An Evangelical poet, catching the fierj refrain, 
thus sweetly sings : 

Clattering of iron, and the clank of chains : 

The clang of lashing whips, shrill shrieks and grrans. 

Loud, ceaseless bowlings, cries and piercing moans. 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 7 

Meanwhile, as if but light were all their pain. 
Legions of devils bound themselves in chains. 
Tormented and tormentors, o'er them shake. 
Thoners and forked iron in the burning lake. 
Belching eternal flames, and wreathed with spires 
Of curling serpents rouse the brimstone fires. 
With whips of flerv scorpions, scourge their slaves. 
And in their faces dash the livid waves." 

The Rev. Mr. Emmons again says : 

"When they (the saints) see how great the misery is 
from which God hath saved them, and how great a difeyr- 
ence he hath made becween their state and the stat^ of 
others who were by nature, and perhaps by practice, ^lo 
more sinful and ill-deserving than they, it will give the m 
more a sense of the wonderfulness of God's grace to them 
in making them so to differ. The sight of hell-to rmetts 
will exalt the happiness of the saints forever." 

" Where saints and angels from their blest abode, 

Chanting^oud hallelujahs to their God, 
. Look down on sinners in the realm of woe. 

And dri«iY fresh pleasures from the scenes below." 

The Rev. Thomas Bolton thus desca-nts upon the 
bliss of the future life : 

*' The godly wife shall applaud the justice of the judge 
in the condemnation of her ungodly husband. The godly, 
husband shall say, Amen ! to the damnation of her who 
lay in his bosom. The godly parent shall say hallelujah I 
at the passing of the sentence upon the ungodly child. 
And the godly child, shall, from his heart, approve the 
damnation of his wicked parents, who begot him. and the 
mother who bore him." 

The Rev. Thomas Vincent, orthodox, thus touched 
the beautiful picture : 

" This will fill them (the saints) with astonishiag admir- 
ation and wondering joy, when they see some of their 
near relatives going to hell; their fathers, their mothers, 
their children, their husbands, their wives, their human 
iriends and companions, while they themselves are 



8 THE FEAB OF DEATH. 

saved. . . . Those affections they now have for rek- 
tives out of Christ, will cease, and they will not have the 
least trouble to see them sentenced to hell and thrust into 
the fiery furnace,'* 

In one of the former publications of the American 
Tract Society, is the following, from Rev. James 
Smith : 

" The fire of hell is such, that multitudes of tears will 
not quench it, and length of time will not burn it out. 
The wrath of God abideth on the rejector of Christ. 
(John, iii. 36.) eternity I eternity I who can fathom it? 
Mariners have their plummets to measure the depths ot 
the sea ; but what line or plummet shall we have to meas- 
ure the depth of eternity? The breath of the Lord kin- 
dles the flame of the pit. (Isaiah, xxx. 33.) And where 
shall we find waters to quench those flames ? Oh eter- 
nity I If all the body of the earth and the sea were turn- 
ed to sand, and all the space up to the starry heaven 
were nothing but sand, and if a little bird should come 
once every thousand years and take away in her bill but 
a single grain from off that heap of sand, what number- 
less years and ages must be spent before the whole of that 
vast quantity would be carried away ; yet, even if at the 
end of that time the sinner might come out of hell, there 
might be some hope ; but that word Forever, breaks the 
heart. * The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for- 
ever and ever.' " 

Pollock's artistic touches to this lovely picture, are 
familiar to many : 

" God in the grasp 
Of his almighty strength, took them upraised. 
And threw them down into the yawning pit 
Of bottomless perdition, ruined, damned. 
Fast bound in chains of darkness evermore, 
The second death and the undying worm. 
Opening their horrid jaws with hideous yell. 
Falling, received their everlasting prey. 
A groan returned, as down they sunk, and sunki 
And over sunk among the utter dark ; 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 9 

A groan returned— the righteous heard the groan, 

The groan of all the reprobate, when first 

They felt damnation sure, and heard hell close I " 

This delicate delineation of the loveliness of hell, 
is from the pen of the Rev. J. Furniss, C.S.R.R., and 
was published by authority in England, and was part 
of the instruction designed for the young : 

*• We know how far it is to the middle of the earth ; it is 
just four thousand miles ; so if hell is in the middle of the 
earth, it is four thousand miles to the horrible, prison of 
hell. Bown in this place is a terrific noise. Listen to the 
tremendous, the horrible uproar of millions and millions 
and millions of tormented creatures, mad with the fury 
of hell 1 Oh ! the screams of fear, the groanings of horror, 
the yells of rage, the cries of pain, the shouts of agony, 
the shrieks of despair, from millions on millions ! There 
you hear them roaring like lions, hissing like serpents, 
howling like dogs and wailing like*dragons. There you 
hear the gnashing of teeth, and the fearful blasphemies 
of the devils. Above all, you hear the roaring of the 
thunders of God's anger, which shakes hell to its founda- 
tions. But there is another sound. There is in hell a 
sound like that of many waters. It is as if all the rivers 
and oceans of the world were pouring themselves wi?th a 
great splash down on the floor of hell. Is it, then, really 
the sound of waters ? It is. Are the rivers and oceans of 
the earth pouring themselves into hell? No. What is 
it, then ? It is the sound of oceans of tears running down 
from countless millions of eyes. They cry forever 
and ever. They cry because the sulphurous smoke tor- 
ments their eyes. They cry because they are in darkness. 
They cry because they have lost the beautiful heaven. 
They cry because the sharp fire burns them. . . . The 
roof is red hot; the walls are red hot; the floor is like a 
thick sheet of red hot iron. See, on the middle of that red 
hot iron floor stands a girl. She looks about sixteen 
years of age. She has neither shoes nor stockings on 
her feet. The door of this room has never been opened 
since she first set her feet on this red hot fioor. Now she 
sees the door opening. She rushes forward. She has 



10 THE FEAR OF DEATH, 

gone down upon her knees upon the red hot floor. Lis 
ten, she speaks. She says: ' I have been standing with my 
bare feet on this red-hot flDor for years. Day and 
night my only standing place has been this red-hot floor. 
Sle^p never eame on me for a moment, that I might for- 
get this horrible burning floor. Look at my burnt and 
bleeding feet. Let me go off this burning floor for one 
moment— only for a short moment. Oh; that in this 
endless eternity of years, I might forget the pain only 
for one single moment.' The Devil answers her ques- 
tion. * Do you ask for a moment— for one moment to for- 
get your pain ? No, not for one single moment during 
the never-ending eternity of years, shall you ever leave 
this red-hot floor.' 

The reader will doubtless excuse us from making 
any further quotations of this description. These 
are but a fair sample of the abominable inculcations 
which beings in human shape, and called '' divines, ' 
''men of God," ^'Holy men," etc., for centuries re-' 
galed their credulous hearers and required them to 
believe. Is it strange that those who can believe 
such horrible drivel as this should entertain a dread 
of the future life and that their happiness in this life 
was embittered in contemplating existence in the 
next? 

Fortunately this abhorrent belief in an eternity of 
agony for the far greater portion of the human race 
is not entertained over the entire world. Christian- 
ity is the only religion of the hundreds that make up 
the total of human creeds that teaches a hell of end- 
less torture. The Mohammedans have a modified 
hell, but it is not endless. Brahmanism recognizes 
degrees of future unhappiness, but the extremest of 
their views in this direction bears no comparison with 
the terrors of the Christian hell. The same may be 
said of the theology of the Egyptians, Grecians, and 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 41 

Wide was the place. 
And deep as wide, and ruinous as deep. 
Beneath I saw a lake of burning fire, 
With tempest tossed perpetually, and still 
The waves of fiery darkness, 'gainst the rooks 
Of dark damnation broke, and music made 
Of melanchoUy sort; and over head, 
And all around, wind warred with wind,^ storm howled 
To storm, and lightning, forked lightning, crossed, 
And thunder answered thunder, muttering sounds 
Of sullen wrath ; and as far as sight could pierce. 
Or down descend in caves of hopeless depth. 
Through all that dungeon of unfading fire, 
I saw most miserable beings walk. 
Burning continually, yet unconsumed ; 
Forever wasting, yet enduring still ; 
Dying perpetually, yet never dead." 

•' O'er their heads a bowless cloud. 
Of indignation hung ; a cloud it was 
Of thick and utter darkness, rolling, like 
An ocean, tides of livid, pitchy flame ; 
With thunders charged, and lightnings ruinous. 
And red with forked vengeance, such as wounds 
The soul; and full of angry shapes of wrath. 
And eddies whirling with tumultuous fire. 
And forms of terror raving to and fro, 
And monsters, unimagined heretofore 
By guilty men in dreams before their death, 
From horrid to more horrid changing still 
In hideous movement through that stormy gulf." 

Those who are fond of pictures of this kind can be 
pleased to their heart's content in the Christian theo- 
logy of the past few centuries. 

It is thought strange by many, why men of educa- 
tion and intelligence will continue to teach such mon- 
strous ideas about a vindictive God, a malicious Devil, 
and a seething, foaming hell ; but when the fact is 
borne in mind that in the words of the Rev. Dr. Sew 



42 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

ell, already quoted, *' On this main fact must rest tiie 
foundation of all Christian ethics," the reason can be 
understood. This is the base on which the struc- 
ture of Christia» theology is builded — a vindictive 
God, angry with the whole human race, a villainous 
but subservient Devil in his employ, and a hell, of the 
description just given, to burn poor wretches in — and 
here you have the bulk of Christianity. This is the 
principal nourishment which these blatant and extra 
pious clergy for hundreds of years been have doling 
out to the simple children, small and large, who de- 
voutly listen to them Sunday after Sunday, month 
after month and year after year. 

These themes are their principal stock in trade. 
How could the clergy get along without a Devil or a 
hell? The Devil is their best friend. It is to escape 
his clutches that induces millions of Christian dupes 
to support this idle, unproductive but privileged class 
of priests and bishops, enabling them to dress in fine 
linen and broadcloth; to eat the best the land 
affords, to live in splendid mansions of brown-stone 
and pressed brick; and all without lifting a finger or 
soiling their hands to earn a penny of the money 
which they cost. Were it not for this very conveni- 
ent Devil who serves them so well> they would be 
under the necessity of turning their attention in other 
directions, and devising some other, but perhaps more 
laborious, means of obtaining a livelihood. 

Do you realize, kind Friends, what the promul- 
gation of the repulsive doctrines we have under con 
sideration, has cost, and is costing the world? In 
our own country we have over sixty thousand priests, 
who with more or less fervor are preaching this kind 
of gospel, and as many churches in which it is listen- 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 4S 

ed to. This, is done at an annual expense of $200,000^- 
000. In Christendom there are not less, than 300, 000* 
priests of all kinds, who preach the Devil, and it costs 
the poor people who pay for this kind of amnsement 
the enormous sum of $1,000,000,000 annually. Could 
not this amount of wealth be used where it w^ould da 
vastly more good to the race? Is it so important that 
his Satanic Majesty should be held up in all his de- 
formity before the trembling millions, that this a- 
mount of treasure, wrung from the weary muscles 
and the aching backs of the toiling, credulous masses, 
should year after year, and century after century, be 
worse than thrown away ? Cannot some theme more 
pleasing and interesting than the Devil, with his hoofs, 
horns and tail, be delivered to the people? 

It has doubtless been observed by the most of you, 
who are pious enough to attend Church, that his Sa- 
tanic Majesty is, of late years, receiving the "cold 
shoulder " from the clergy, who have been so much 
indebted to him in the past. They say far less about 
the Devil now than twenty-five years ago ; and they 
mix far less of sulphur in the gospel pap which they so 
affectionately feed to the babes of grace. The fact is 
the mental stomach of the public has become so sen- 
sitive that it rejects such highly seasoned diet as, the 
wrath of God and brimstone make when duly blend- 
ed together. It requires something milder, and )ve 
see the Doctors of Divinity, like the Doctors of Medi- 
cine, hasten to 'furnish their patients with such bo- 
luses and mixtures as they ^re willing to accept and 
pay for. 

Clergymen, like other professionals and tradesmen, 
are very anxious to please their patrons, and are wil- 
ling to furnish just such commodities as are in de» 



44 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

mand. They are getting to take a very sensible view 
of the matter, and virtually they talk to their cus- 
tomers in thiswise: ''We wish to please you; you 
pay us your money, and we desire you to have just 
wliat you want, li you do not like so much sulphur, 
we can just as easily give you less; in fact, we think 
we can soon dispense with it altogether. If you ob- 
ject to the Devil^ we will keep him behind the cur- 
tain, and even not exhibit him at all, if you say so. 
We are anxious to please our customers as nearly as j 
we can ; we are determined to study the tastes of ^ 
those who patronize our establishment." 

Eemarks, practically like these, were made to a 
congregation in this city about three weeks ago, by a 
pastor who had just newly been called to fill the pul- 
pit. He said: *' Now you just let me know how you 
want this church run, and it shall be done just ac- 
cording to your instructions." He had an eye to 
business, and many of them are acquiring the same 
degree of shrewdness, and are so obliging as to try to 
please those who pay them. They will raise the 
Devil when the Devil is wanted, and make him down, 
when he is not desired. The whole truth lies just 
iiere : clergymen will preach up the Devil just so long 
as the people willingly accept him; and will throw 
him overboard, Jonah like, when he does not suit the 
popular demand. As it is money they work for, they 
feel it to be incumbent on them to answer the de- 
mands of that money; so when the people unitedly 
say : **We want no more Benil; we will have no more. " 

But what will Christianity do without a Devil and 
a hell? It will be worse thdn the play of *' Hamlet," 
with the part of ''Hamlet" omitted. This Devil, 
ufter all, cannot be given up, for the entire Christian 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 45 



theology is so blended and interwoven with him, that 
he cannot be dropped out, nor expurgated, without 
ruining the entire institution. 

Can any loyal Christian doubt, for a moment, the 
'existence of a Devil — a real, simon-pure, personal 
Beelzebub? Did not Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Con- 
stantine, all the popes, prelates, bishops, fathers, 
! priests, monks, friars, pastors, preachers, elders, and 
deacons, from the Master, down, believe in, and teach a 
live, walking, real Devil? Did not Luther, the father 
of Protestantism, believe in a Devil ? In fact, did he 
not absolutely see him? We have his word that he 
did. The Devil appeared to him in his study, and 
the good saint threw his ink-stand at the DeviFs head. 
Unfortunately he missed his mark, or, at all events, 
he did not kill, nor seriously injure his distinguished 
visitor. The great man was kind enough to commit 
to writing, and leave as a legacy to those who suc- 
ceeded him, some of his experiences with the gentle- 
man from below. 

In his work on the abuses attendant on private 
masses, he says that he had conferences with the Devil 
on that subject, passing many bitter nVghts, and much 
restless and wearisome repose ; that once in particular, 
Satan came to him in the dead of the night, when he 
was just awakened out of sleep. '' The Devil," says 
Luther, ''knows well enough, how to construct his 
arguments, and to urge them with the skill of a mas- 
ter. He delivers himself with a grave and yet shrill 
voice. ISTor does he use circumlocutions and beat about 
the bush ; but excels in forcible statements and quick 
rejoinders. I no longer wonder that the persons whom 
he assails in this way are occasionally found dead in 
their beds. He is able to compress and throttle, and 



i6 AN HOtm WITH THE DEVIL. 

more than once he has so assaulted me and driven my 
soul into a corner, that I felt as if the next moment 
it must leave my body. I am of the opinion that 
Gesner and CEcolampadius came in that manner to 
their deaths. The Devil's manner of opening a debate 
is pleasant enough, but he soon urges things so per- 
emptorily that the respondent in a short time knows 
not how to acquit himself. " 

Here is positive testimony from the highest Chris- 
tian source that there is a Devil, and that he is verv 
sociable, argumentative and able in discussion. No 
Christian can doubt Luther's testimony on this very 
important subject. 

We have also the positive testimony of Swedenborg 
and Blomberg that there is a Devil for they had seen 
him and conversed with him. Our own Joseph 
Smith, too, the Mormon Prophet, a man who could 
not be induced to make the slightest misrepresenta- 
tion, avers that he not only saw the Devil, but had a 
personal conflict with him over those golden plates 
on which the Mormon Bible was engraved. The 
Devil was determined to get the plates away from 
the Prophet and he struggled hard to accomplish it, 
but for once, he found his match ; Joseph was too 
much for the Archfiend, and he held on to the plates, 
compelling the Evil One to retire in disgrace. 

There are plenty of others, divines and undivines, 
who positively assert that they have seen the Devil, 
and came in close contact with him. Yes, they not 
only saw him, but they smelt him, also. Some of the 
goatish smell was about him, but the odor of sulphur 
predominated, (It is asserted that he uses no cologne 
water nor **rosadora,'* to overcome his disagreeable 
smells.) 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 47 

Notwithstanding the numbers who have seen him, 
there are several points as to his personality that are 
not clearly settled. There is some doubt about his 
complexion, the color of his eyes, the length of his 
horns, the dimensions of his tail, his avoirdupois, his 
exact height; whether he parts his hair in the middle; 
whether his clothes are in the latest fashion, whether 
it is his right or left foot that is cloven; whether on 
the other, he wears a boot or a gaiter; whether his 
coat is dress or sack; whether he regards Moody and 
Sankey's style of snatching souls from his grasp, is 
the most effective that can be devised ; whether he is 
in favor of a '* third term," whether he believes Henry 
Ward Beecher knows anything about Elizabeth, and 
whether Henry is to be believed under oath. 

It has been reported by some of these interviewers 
that the Devil is cross-eyed, in his near eye; but We 
have reason to think it an unmitigated slander, put in- 
to circulation by his enemies. We think if this had 
been the case, Martin Luther, who was a very observ- 
ing man, would have discovered it and reported the 
same. It cannot easily be supposed that he could 
hold heated arguments and discussions with the 
Devil, wherein the major and minor propositions were 
duly presented; the premises laid down according to 
rule, and he npt have discovered that his celebrated 
opponent was cross-eyed. The case is not presumable. 

One of the saddest features in the whole history of 
the Devil, is his operations in the line of witchcraft. 
We will not say he is responsible for the great wrongs 
that have been committed in this direction; but as he 
was supposed to be the author and originator of all 
witchcraft, it is but proper we should consider it in 
connection with his character and existence"^ 



48 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

The belief in witchcraft long existed in the world. 
As long ago as Moses penned the laws to govern the 
descendants of Abraham, he wrote very hard terms 
for those supposed to be witches. '' Thou shalt not 
suffer a witch to live," was one of his enactments, and 
this cruel, merciless sentence, for many centuries was 
accepted and acted upon as a decree from the throne 
of heaven, and many were put to death in that era, for 
being unfortunate enough to be judged a witch. It 
prevailed also in many heathen countries for hundreds 
of years, but it was reserved for Christianity to add 
the crowning touches of infamy and wrong, to this 
most unfortunate delusion, mania, or mental disease. 

Witchcraft was held to be a supernatural power, 
which persons were supposed to obtain possession of, 
by entering into compact with the Devil. It was 
most frequently associated with the female character, 
and from that circumstance received its name. 

The modern idea of witchcraft, denoting a regular 
league with the Evil One, dates from the rise of 
Christianity and obtained its higher development in 
the Middle Ages. At a later period, the Waldenses 
and other early seceders from the regular church, 
were accused and were cruelly and persistently perse- 
cuted for witchcraft. The highest dignitaries of the 
Church made no effort to check the madness that ran 
riot over Christian countries, but entered fully into 
the spirit of tormenting and putting to death, the un- 
fortunate beings who were basely suspected of enter- 
ing into compact with the Devil. Many thousands of 
pitiable wretches were whipped, and scourged, and 
drowned, and hung, and burnt, for the slightest suspic- 
ion of witchcraft being breathed against them. Many 
tests were devised for ascertaining whether a person 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 49 

was a witch, and had entered into a league with the 
Prince of Darkness. Water was often resorted to. 
They were thrown into the same ; if they floated, they 
were hung as witches, and if they sank, they were in- 
nocent; but nevertheless were drowned; so it was 
death even to be suspected. 

It is lamentable that dignified courts of justice lent 
themselves to this nefarious business, and aided in 
spreading this mental malaria. Sir Matthew Hale, 
one of England's ablest judges in former times, sat 
patiently, day after day, listening to the evidence ad- 
duced to prove that certain implicated parties were in 
secret compact with the Devil; and in passing sen- 
tence upon the hapless victims of ignorance and su- 
perstition, whom to be accused was, almost, to be 
put to death. 

The persecutions and infamous cruelties extended 
toward the miserable females, who were chiefly sus- 
pected of the crime of being witches, and of enter- 
ing into unholy compact with the Evil One, were exas- 
perated and carried out in all Christian countries. In 
1484 the head of the Christian Church, Pope Inno- 
cent, issued his famous bull, in which he narrated the 
prevailing superstitions on the subject, and appointed 
commissions to examine and punish witches. From 
that time it became a crime especially recognized by 
ecclesiastical authorities. In the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries the persecutions of witches were ac- 
tively carried on all over Europe, and an incredible 
number of unfortunate beings lost their lives. 

Colange says: '* The ideas that had come to be con 
nected with the subject, are of a remarkable charac- 
ter. The witch was believed to have entered into a 
regular engagement with the Devil, who delivered 



50 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

Ler over to «h imp or familiar spirit, to be always at 
her call, and to do whatever she desired of it ; she, 
on the other hand, agreeing that she should be his 
^fter death. The witch was believed to possess the 
power to transport herself through the air upon a 
broom-stick — which was their favorite mode of travel 
— and of transforming herself into various forms of 
animal life, but more especially cat?. As they are 
animals specially fond of slily roving around at all 
hours of the night, they were thought to be particu- 
larly adapted to the use of the witches. It was fully 
believed they possessed the power of inflicting disease 
upon any person whom they chose. Objects that 
were horrid and loathsome were regarded as chosen 
instruments of the witches, as dead bodies, toads, 
frogs, lizards, serpents, etc., etc. 

A power was also assigned them over the elements, 
of raising storms or producins: calms, and of casting 
malign influences over the fruits of the earth. The 
suspected persons were put to the most cruel tortures, 
in the agonies of which confessions were extorted 
from them which had little foundation in fact. Some 
confessions were, no doubt, voluntarily made, which 
were the result of imagination.'* 

It is a black, bloody chapter of cruelty, oppression 
lind wrong, which was for many centuries prosecuted 
m the name of religion and in bebalf of a malicious 
Devil. It is said five thousand of these unfortunate 
victims of ignorance were burned at Geneva alone, 
and other parts of Europe, were not far behind. 
Voltaire states in his great work, *' The Philosophical 
Dictionary," that over one hundred thousand witches 
were executed in the Christian States of Europe. 

In the early settlement of this country, when the 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 51 

Puritanical stock brought with them ^from Europe the 
ignorant, superstitious and religious intolerance domi- 
nant there, they brought, also, the spirit of persecu- 
tion and bitterness towards ** witches.** This crop- 
ped out early in certain localities, and raged with 
fiendish hate. Many a happy home was made deso- 
late by it; many an innocent girl was wrongfully ac 
cused of being bewitched, and was cruelly subjected 
to the most abhorrent tests; many were incarcerated 
in loathsome prisons and kept there for the grave 
crime of being suspected of holding communication 
with the Devil. It was a busy time, indeed, for 
"witch-finders,** and these were usually some sancti- 
monious, long-faced, nasal-twanged, praying, hypo- 
critical church member, who constituted themselves 
into smelling committees, to look after the young 
4irls and spinsters, as well as old women in their 
leighborhood — for these were the ones supposed to 
je liable to enter into compact with the gentleman 
below. Hundreds of these innocent and inter- 
esting persons, against whom the merest breath of 
suspicion was whispered, were remorselessly dragged 
from their homes and friends, and at all hours of the 
day and night, and imprisoned for weeks mid the great- 
est discomforts and disgrace; and after formal trials of 
great solemnity before learned judges, and the first 
Christians in the country, but upon the most trivial 
and exparte testimony, were found guilty, and con- 
demned to death; yes, considerable numbers of these 
unhappy victims of ignorance, religious superstition, 
zeal and intolerance were positively executed, and 
this less than two centuries ago, and in our glorious 
old State of Massachusetts. 
But, thanks to dawning reason and increasing com 



52 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

mon sense, this terrible business was soon checked; 
trials and executions of witches were suppressed, and 
the evils that had been supposed to be witchcraft, soon 
terminated; and, except among persons of limited in- 
telligence and reason, there has been but little belief in 
witches and witchcraft since. With the faith in sor- 
cerers and sorcery, which for many centuries pervaded 
and cursed many countries and peoples — a belief that 
sorcerers were in close communion with the Devil, and 
by his power foretold future events, revealed hidden 
secrets, discovered stolen property and did many other 
impossible things — fortunately for the happiness of the 
human race, has passed away. 

Witchcraft, truly, had a long, cruel and bloody 
history, which it is not our present purpose to sketch, 
but with a blush of shame for our race, we have to 
confess that this gigantic, almost incomparable wrong 
for centuries and millenniums even, was fostered and 
prosecuted in the name of a personal Devil I It is one 
of the sad, saddest blots on the page of history, which 
we would gladly erase, were it in our power. 

Now, from what we have here uttered, about thai 
supposed, ever -vigilant enemy of the human race, 
some of you may have a curiosity to know if we be- 
lieve in the existence of a Devil. With all due sol- 
emnity, and with the highest regard for truth, we are 
compelled to confess that we do. We believe in an 
absolute, over-ruling Devil which has long, long 
cursed the world and our most unfortunate race. 
The name of this Devil is, Ignokance! He is not 
only a positive, real Devil, but he is the author of all 
the other devils that have ever existed in the imagina- 
tion of man; and beside him there is none other. But 
thanks to the powers that be, there are forces superior 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEYIL. 63 

to him, and all of us, yes, all mankind who have been 
cursed, with the machinations of this powerful devil 
may easily learn to subdue him, and to gain absolute 
power over him. These forces are Knowledge, 
Science, Intelligence. 

With the supremacy of these potent forces, no 
Devil can longer exist; but with the imps, the demons, 
the sprites, the gnomes, the satyrs, the genii, the furies, 
the gorgons, the harpies, the bogies, the hobgoblins, 
the dragons, all the monstrosities, as well as the 
witches, the fairies, the nymphs, the naiads, the un- 
dines, and all the gods, which, for thousands of years 
have existed, only, in the imagination of man, are 
fast passing off the stage. They were all equally in- 
ventions and creations of man, devised and believed 
in, when ignorance reigned supreme. As this power 
is dispelled by the forces just named, these will all take 
their final departure for the land of oblivion, to annoy, 
afflict and <)urse our race no more forever. 

But is there no Evil in existence? Is everything 
good and lovely? Is there no wrong? There surely 
is wrong; there are evils; but they are not persona- 
ges nor beings, any more than death, sin, life, truth, 
hope, charity, love, and many other similar qualities, 
which in poetry and figurative language have often 
been personified. None of these are personalities, 
none have a local, circumscribed existence. They 
are principles^ and have a unvcersal existence. 

What, then, is Evil? It is, in three words, a mw- 
applicaUon of good. Good and evil are relative terms. 
There is nothing in existence but what is either, good 
or evil, according to the use that is made of it. Every- 
thing of which we know, or can conceive, i^goodii 
properly used, and it may also be evil if not so 



54 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

used. Take fire, for instance, in cold weather, as 
at this season of the year, in warming our dwellings, 
in dispelling the cold, and in cooking our food, it is a 
great and indispensable good ; but when misapplied, 
it becomes a most gigantic evil, which Chicago, Bos- 
ton and thousands of other localities can fully under- 
stand. 

The same with water. In the composition of our 
bodies and the bodies of all animal and vegetable 
life, for quenching thirst, for driving our mills and 
factories, for floating our ships and steamboats, for a 
highway between continents and nations, it is a great, 
an incalculable, an indispensable good ; but when it 
comes in deluging rains and devasting floods, it is an 
evil of immense magnitude, which 4he people of 
France, our own country and nearly all countries, this 
year, and many others, can easily appreciate. 

The same with the wind. When gentle, in the 
zephyr and in the breeze, enlivening and purifying 
the atmosphere and removing the effects of stagnation 
and malaria, and in driving our sailing vessels, it is a 
great good ; but when it comes in the form of the 
gale, the hurricane, the whirlwind and the cyclone, 
it is an immense evil. 

The same with all kinds of food ; if used at proper 
time and in proper quantities they are good, but if 
used in excess they are all capable of becoming great 
evils. Most substances that are good, when taken into 
the mouth, if inserted in the eyes or ears are positive 
evils. So we see that everything is either good or 
evil. Just according to the use that is made of it, and 
no being or person of man's imagining is necessary^ 
to represent either. 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 55 

Man is an intricate organization, possessing many 
functions of heart, lungs, stomach, brain and other 
parts of the body. He has in his mental organization 
noble sentiments, elevated incentives, comprehensive 
judgment and a masterly intellect ; and he also pos- 
sesses lower propensities and passions. These are all 
good in their legitimate places and in proper propor- 
tions. Every passion subserves a good purpose when 
in its appropriate use, and when not mis-applied or in- 
indulged in excess. The evil with these qualities ex- 
ists not in themselves, but in the use and application 
that is made of them. There are no persons so good, 
but what they have some imperfections, and none so 
bad, nor disproportionately organized, but what they 
possess some good. 

It should be the labor of our lives to inform our- 
selves of the uses and abuses of everything that exists, 
and to learn to make a proper use of all we come in 
contact with. If the best use we can make of some 
things, is to avoid them and let them entirely alone, 
10 be it. 

These qualities, called good and bad^ are like the 
plants which grow out of the earth; all are good for 
some purpose, but some possess more good than others. 
It should be our study and our purpose to cultivate the 
good and uproot the hurtful. We should remove the 
weeds, the thistles, nettles, briars and thorns which 
occupy the ground and contribute but little to our 
happiness, and encourage and give careful culture to 
the wheat, the corn, the esculent roots, the fruits, the 
flowers, and every plant that ministers to our needs 
and adds to our happiness. 

Let us do this in the mental, as well as in the mater- 
ial domain, and we will need to have but a small 



66 AN HOUB WITH THE DEVII., 

amoimt of evil in our world, and will surely have no 
use for a big, ugly, insinuating, tormenting, vindic- 
tive, personal Devil. When this good day comes, 
may we not hope the tens of thousands of public 
teachers and preachers who now spend tlieir talents 
and their lives in promulgating ancient crudities, 
superstitions, falsities, fables and myths, which, as we 
have seen, had their origin in ignorance, will decide to 
instruct the people only in the grand, the beautiful, 
the elevating, the refining, the happifying and the true ? 
Then science and reason will be our guiding stars, and 
the myths and the devils of the primitive ages, will 
hide themselves in the shades of f orgetf ulness. 



It is possible some of the expressions and some of 
the arguments we have used, may to some seem harsh 
and uncharitable. Far be it from us to hurt** the 
oil and the wine" in the hearts of any individual, 
or to speak disrespectfully of the good that exists iu 
any system of religion, or in any form of belief. We 
are free to confess, Christianity with all its excesses, 
with all its faults, and with all its erro];s, has contain- 
ed and enjoined much that is good, and that great 
numbers of those who have embraced it, have been 
sincere, honest-hearted, well-disposed men and 
women; but who have been misled in supposing the 
system to be heaven-born, God-given, and angel - 
nurtured, when it is only made up of the dogmas, 
fables and mythologies of heathen nations, which ex- 
isted thousands of years before Christianity came 
upon the stage; and all of which dogmas, as we have 
seen, were the figments and imaginations of the hu- 
man brain. 

It is now fully demonstrated that the human race 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 57 

came from a low origin, on a level with the animal 
plane, and has, with obstructions and drawbacks, 
gradually progressed, until it has arrived where it is 
to-day ; and that it did not start high up, at a point of 
perfection, and since been constantly deteriorating 
and getting worse and worse. 

All systems of religioas belief which the world has 
contained, have possessed some good, and the adher- 
ents of all have doubtless, been sincere and aimed to 
discharge their duty and to accomplish commendable 
results. Every system has been more good, more 
commendable than it might have been, had it been 
worse. All could have been worse — more pernic- 
ious. But not a system of religion the world has 
yet believed in, has been free from errors ; not one 
that has been true. All were based upon mistaken 
notions of gods and devils ; all originated in falla- 
cies and absurdities, or which were copied and adopt- 
ed by one system from another. 

We see the same general characteristics common to 
all the numerous systems that have preceeded us. 
All have had their gods which they wor- 
shiped; all have had their devils which they feared. 
Christianity originated none of this, nor a single 
dogma she holds to to-day. This truth might as 
well be plainly stated and plainly understood as to 
longer evade the issue. It must be met sooner or 
later, and there can be nothing gained by longer de- 
ferring it. Let us manfully face the music at once. 
It is a borrowed system — a part from Judaism, and a 
part from paganism, but all false together. 

The foundations of it are not laid in truth. We 
now know the Universe was not started six thousand 
years ago, and that the earth is not the centre of it; 



58 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

that the sun and stars do not revolve around it, and 
that the stars are tk?^ small brilliant objects set in a 
firmament or circumscribed arch, near the earth, and 
for "signs and seasons;" we know that Adam and 
Eve could Twt have been the first human pair that ex- 
isted, but that human beings have lived on the 
earth at least forty thousand years. Similarly we 
know that all the cardinal doctrines of Christianity 
are unfounded in truth. We have seen how the crude 
idea of devils and gods first took position in the 
infantile human mind, and how they evolved and de- 
veloped from age to ag«; and on taking a correcf 
view of these old beliefs, we see that to suppose 
anv of those dogmas or opinions were given from ^ 
god is wholly without foundation. 

We are not one of those who think all these various 
systems of religion have been continuous links in the 
great chain of evolution, and that they all must needs 
be, like a wheel in an intricate machine, which could 
not be spared without immense damage to the entire 
structure. If there has been a gradual progression 
from one to another, (and this has not always been 
apparent, for there has been retrogression;) there 
has not been a single system of faith which could not 
easily have been spared from the world without seri- 
ous inconvenience ; and Christianity is no exception. 

It is difficult to understand how the belief in any 
form of error can be of great utility to the race, or 
how the floundering of mankind, for thousands of 
years in the fogs, and mists and darkness of supersti- 
tion and delusion, was the greatest good the race could 
have had, under the circumstances. It is the nature 
of error — however firmly planted in sincerity — tc 
hamper, clog and fetter its adherents, and we cannot 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 59 

nnderstand how it can, under any circumstances, 
be the greatest good the race could enjoy. Truth is 
better than error; reality than imagination. 

How great soever the results arising for any of the 
antique religions of the past may be supposed, by 
many, to have been, and how so ever closely they may 
be thought to have been connected in the great work 
of evolution through which the race has passed, one 
thing is morally certain, they are no longer adapted 
to the wants and needs of the present. The world 
nas outgrown all the imperfect and fabulous theories 
and doctrines of olden time, and is reaching out for 
something better, something higher, something truer. 
Wif>« is he, who is prepared and willing to step for- 
ward with the advance guard, and help to *' ring out 
the old and ring in the new.'* 

The religious creeds of the world have doubtless 
held it back in the regions of darkness and imperfec- 
tion for thousands of years ; and they have not been 
the benefit to mankind which many imagine. The ad- 
vance of the race would have been much more rapid, 
could truth always have been the guiding star, and 
not falsehood. It is, however, useless to mourn over 
the mistakes of the past; '* Let bygones be bygones.'* 
Our duty and oui' labor to-day is, to come to the truth, 
direct, and to rid ourselves of the mistakes of the 
past with all possible and practicable speed, cultivat- 
ing, under all circumstances, a spirit of fraternity 
and a desire to add as much to the welfare and hap 
piness of humanity, as in our power. 

We have reason to rejoice that the progress the 
v/orld has made is as great as it is, considering the 
impediments and difficulties it has had to encounter; 
and the great mass of ignorance, superstition iind 



60 AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 

wrong it has had to meet and contend with. Light is 
breaking in ; the myths of olden times are, one after 
anotlier giving way, and in due time, if we steadily 
pursue our course, and keep our faces toward the goal 
of truth, the full effulgence of the genial sun of Reas- 
on, Science and Devotion to Humanity will ultimate- 
ly illumine our pathway. 

In closing, we will quote two more extracts, which 
seem appropriate to the line of thought we have been 
pursuing. The first is from our own revered Prof. 
Draper, that whom, ia the humble opinion of your 
speaker, there is hardly a greater living man, and one 
who has done more excellent service in' the cause of 
truth. We quote from his incomparable work, ** The 
Intellectual Development of Europe," (p. 413.) 

' ' All these delusions, which occupied the minds of 
our forefathers, and from which not even the power- 
ful anji learned were free, have totally passed away. 
The moonlight has now no fairies ; the solitude no 
genii ; the darkness no ghost, no goblin. There is 
no necromancer who can raise the dead from their 
graves — no one who has sold his soul to the Devil and 
signed the contract with his blood — no angry appari- 
tion to rebuke the crone who has disquieted him. 
Divination, agromancy, pyromancy, hydromancy; 
chcu'omancy, augury, interpreting of dreams, oracles, 
sorcery, astrology, have all gone. It is three hundred 
and fifty years since the last sepulchral lamp was 
found, and that was at Rome. There are no gorgons, 
hydras, chimeras ; no familliars ; no incubus or suc- 
cubus. The housewives of Holland no longer bring 
Ibrth sooterkins by sitting over lighted chauflers. No 
longer do captains buy of Lapland witches, favorable 
winds ; no longer do our churches resound with 



AN HOUR WITH THE DEVIL. 61 

prayers against the baleful influences of comets, 
though there still linger in some of our noble old 
rituals, forms of supplication for dry weather and 
rain ; useless, but not unpleasing reminiscences oi the 
past. These delusions have vanished with the night 
to which they appertained, yet they were the delu- 
bions of fifteen hundred years.'* 

The second extract is from the pen of the equally 
meritorious Prof. Wm. Denton. 

Sigh, priests ;— cry aloud— hanf^ your pulpits with black 

Let sorrow bow down every head ; 
The good friend who bore all your sins on his back, 

Your best friend, the Devil, is dead. 

Your church is a corpse— you are guarding its tomb; 

The soul of your system has fled; 
The death knell is tolling your terrible doom ; 

It tells us, the Devil is dead. 

You're bid to the funeral, ministers all. 

We've dug the old gentleman's bed ; 
Your black coats will make a most excellent pall. 

To cover your friend who is dead. 

Aye. lower iiim mournfully into the grave ; 

Let showers of tear-drops be shed ; 
Your business is gone:— there are no souls to save; 

Their tempter, the Devil, is dead. 

Woe comes upon woe ; it is dreadful to think. 

Hell's gone and the demons have fled ; 
The damn'd souls have broken their chains, every linic 

The jailor, who bo md them, is dead. 

Oamp-meetings henceforth will be needed no more; 

Revivals are knocked on the head ; 
The orthodox vessel lies stranded on shore ; 

Their captain, the Devil, is dead. 



[Truth Seeker Tracts. JSTo. 76. J 



Reply to Erastus F. Brown, 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



[From The Truth Seeker of Deo. 1. 1875.1 



[From its language and style we should have no 
doubt of the following being a Ghristian letter:] 



Office of Erastus F. Brown. 
Counsellor at Law, 76 Nassau St. 



} 

New York, Nov. 8th, 1875. 
D. M. Bennett— /Sir : Your "Open Letter" to My MaH' 
ter has been handed to me. When you say that you write 
the letter because '*I am in guest of truth,'' you tell a de- 
liberate lie. When you say, ''I was in the habit of address^ 
ing you regularly four or five times a day, and from one 
year's end to another," I believe you lie. But be it so, why 
apply to Christ, keepinior company, as you unquestion- 
ably do, with your father the Devil. Go to him who 
troubles my Master, with your lying: tongue. Let me give 
you two words of advice. Be Decent. 

Not your friend, Erastus F. Bbown. 

Reply. — We are sorry that the zeal of this pious 
Christian, in the cause of his '* Master," should in- 
duce him to forget the manners of a gentleman. 



a KEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

We have not been guilty of falsehood in the direction 
he charges us with it. AVhcn he accuses us of * ' ly- 
ing," he commits the very offense himself which he 
charges upon us. We are assuredly in quest of truth, 
and though we hardly expected to receive a reply to 
our ''Open Letter" from the person addressed, we 
will be very glad to have the questions answered by 
any one who calls him ' ' Master. " When Mr. Brown 
insinuates that Ave lied, in reference to the frequency 
of the prayers we formerly offered, we can positively 
assert that he is in error; and we ought to know a 
good deal more about it than he does. As a state- 
ment of truth, and not as boasting, we assure Erastus 
that for nearly a score of years we prayed regularly 
every day on rising in the morning, upon retiring at 
night, and at each meal we ate, besides frequently on 
extra occasions. Did he never hear of the like be- 
fore? How often does he address his ''Master"? 
It is possible that we are quite as well acquainted 
with his "Master" as he is. Has he any right to 
question us as to why we appeal to his ''Master?" 
Have we not the same right as himself, and all other 
persons, in this direction? Has he any patent for ad- 
dressing his "Master" that we have to purchase be- 
fore we can use it? 

The gentleman charges us with keeping company 
with the Devil. He may be correct in that, so far as 
we are able to say; but we have no recollection of 
ever meeting his Satanic Majesty, and we think we 
could not easily have forgotten it had we ever met 
him ; as we have so often heard him spoken of, that 
we would esteem him quite a curiosity to see. From 
all that we can learn of the individual in question, he 
has been shamefully abused and slandered by such 



REPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 8 

men as Mr. Brown, and so far as our choice is con- 
cerned, we would quite as soon keep his compan}- as 
that of Erastus himself, believing him to be fully as 
much a gentleman and quite as much our friend. 

As to the Devil being our father, our assailant is 
obviously in the wrong, for his assertion is in direct 
opposition to the evidence of our mother, who cer- 
tainly knows altogether more about the matter than 
Erastus possibly can. She said our father was an en- 
tirely different personage, who neither had a cloven 
foot, a horned head, nor a long, barbed tail. She is 
still living, and we can substantiate our position 
and prove the legal gentleman's error by her affidavit, 
if he would be in the least gratified thereby. On that 
aged parent's account, we regret that he should have 
made such an untruthful, uncalled-for statement, and 
one that reflects so seriously upon her early char- 
acter. 

Mr. Brown says another thing that we cannot help 
regretting; and that is, that he is not our friend. 
That is sad; we would that all men (including law- 
yers) might esteem us a friend. We would rather 
have the good-will of a dog than his ill-will, especial- 
ly if he is a cross, biting dog. If, however, Erastus 
insists upon breaking friendship with us, simply be- 
cause we saw fit to write a letter to his ''Master," we 
shall be obliged to submit to it with the best possible 
grace, and feel compensated with the conviction that 
he loses quite as much by the operation as we do. 
But if his " Master " manifests no ill-will towards us 
for writing the letter, is it necessary for Erastus to 
"get his back up" about it? Does he expect to gain a 
crown, or a pearl, or a diamond, or a star, by his zeal- 
ous defence of one who is supposed to be able to take 



4 KEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

care of himself? By the way he flutters, one might 
be led to suppose he was slightly hit. 

But is Erastus F. following the injunctions of hi? 
*' Master," who is reported to have said, ** Love those 
who hate you and despitefully use you'*? Does he 
liot rather evince the same intolerant spirit which 
men of his caste were actuated by two or three cen- 
turies ago, when they persecuted, tortured, burne(? 
and otherwise put to death, hundreds of thousands o' 
those whom they supposed lacked in due respect tr 
their ''Master," thus making cruel barbarians o^ 
themselves? Is it not probable that had Mr. BrowL 
lived a few centuries earlier, that in his holy zeal f oi 
his ''Master," he would have joined hand in hano 
with Torquemada, Montfort, Alva, Calvin, Munzer, 
Claverhouse, and more of that class, who reddened 
their hands and deluged the earth with the blood oi 
their hapless fellow-mortals, because they fancied 
their "Master "was not properly treated? Does he 
not evince, in proportion to the age in which he lives, 
the same intolerance, the same want of charity and 
the same barbarism that those bloody persecutors, 
murderers and assassins did? Would not the same 
spirit which induces a man to-day, to say in anger to 
a truthful person, "You are a deliberate liar, you 
have wronged my "Master," have caused him three 
hundred years ago to say, "I will take your life on 
my Master's account " ? 

The way this earth has been saturated with human 
blood in the name of that "Master," is a terror to 
every thoughtful, sympathetic mind. The cruelty 
that has been inflicted upon the human race in the 
name of that " ]\Iaster " far transcends all the cruel- 
ties, wrongs, and outr9,ges the world has known. 



[ 



REPLY TO EKASTUS F. BROWN. O 

We presume Erastus F. Brown is naturally an ami- 
able, reasonable, kind-hearted person; but the bundle 
of dogmas, superstitions and errors which he fondly 
and ignorantly presses to his bosom, and which he 
fancies is religion and virtue makes him what he is. 
When he attains — as we hope he may — to the advanc- 
ed light and morality we have gained, he may become 
as good a man as we are, and be able to depend upon 
jiis own good deeds, instead of his ''Master's." 

In closing, he was kind enough to give us two 
words of advice; we will give him more. Erastus: 
remember that epithets and hard names are no argu- 
ment ; try and get your eyes open to see the truth and 
have a little common sense. 

To the reader we will say, the above letter was 
drawn out by our " Open Letter to Jesus Christ." It 
is issued in tract form, and mailed at five cents each, 
or forty cents a dozen. 



[The following appeared in The Teuth Seekee of 
December 15, 1875. 

New Yobk. Dec. 2d. I875r 
D. M. Bennett, Esq.— 6'.?r; My letter, printed in the last 
number of your paper, was neither intended for you, nor 
for publication. It was sent as a private communication 
to a gentleman, as a thrust at your " Open Letter," sent to 
nie by him. Through a mistake which I very much re- 
gret, it was sent to you, and blazoned in your paper. 

"The Christianity of Christ.^' What is this dreadful 
thing toward which you are striving to play the part of 
Hercules towards the Lernasan Hydra ? Theodore Park- 
er, in hi& tract, entitled. "A Lesson for the Day," thus 
describes it: "The Hliristianity of Christ is the highest 
and most perfect ideal ever pt esented to the longing eyes 



6 REPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

of man," and in his review of " Strauss* Life of Jesus," 
he says: '* To write down the true Christian Church 
seems to me as absurd as to write down the solar 
system, or put an end to tears, joys and prayers. Still 
less have we any fear that Christianity itself should come 
to an end, as some appear to fancy ; a form of Heligion 
which has been the parent and guardian of all modern 
civilization ; which has sent its voice to the end of the 
world, and now addresses equally the heart of the beg- 
gar and of the monarch ; which is the only bond between 
societies; an institution cherished and clung to, by the 
choicest hopes and the deepest desires of the human 
race, is not in a moment to be displaced." 

"Ever since the day that he was in the flesh, the Re- 
deemer's image has been stamped ineffaceably on the 
hearts of men ; even if the letter should perish,— which 
is holy only because it preserves to us this image,— the 
image itself would remain forever. It is stamped so 
deeply in the hearts of men that it can never b*^ effaced, 
and the words of the Apostle will ever be true, "Lord, 
whither shall we go ? thou only hast the words of eternal 
life." 

But what is offered to us in the place of this, so pre- 
cious ? James Eitzjames Stephen, in his recent work, en- 
titled. •' Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," says : '* Each must 
act as he thinks best, and if he is wrong, so much the 
worse for him. AVe stand on a mountain pass in the 
midst of whirling snow and blinding mists, through 
which we get glimpses, now and then, of paths, which 
may be deceptive. If wo stand still, we shall be frozen to 
death. If we take the wrong road, we shall be dashed to 
pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any 
right one." 

Turning from this dark picture, to the " Christianity of 
Christ," let us say, sweet it is with courage-giving hopes. 
From your " Open Letter to Jesus Christ," I will now as- 
sume that you are bewildered, by the supernatural his- 
tory of his life; but there are more things in heaven and 
earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy. The wise 
Lord Bacon said: "A little philosophy inclinetli man's 
mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's 



REPLY TO EKASTUS V. BROWN. 7 

minds about to religion." I therefore urge you to drink 
de3p. or taste not; shallow draughts intoxicate, drink 
largely; and that will sober you. Then will the truth 
break upon your mind, " that Nature and the Supernat- 
ural together constitute the one system of God." 

Yours, Erastus T. Beown. 

Reply. — While we perceive a decided improve- 
ment in the tone and style of the above, when com- 
pared with Mr. Brown's previous letter, published in 
our last, we connot but notice the peculiarity of Ids 
defense. He says now, that letter was not intended 
for publication, nor for us to see. Can it be possible 
lie would direct a letter to us; call us a deliberate 
iiar; say we were a child of the Devil; ask why we 
presumed to trouble his master, and wind up with the 
:sage advice to us, to be decent^ and not mean it for our 
eye, but to be read by a near friend of ours? Does 
that put any better face on the matter? If it is Chris- 
tian to write a scurrilous, untruthful letter, to be read 
only by cherished friends, w^ith the design that it 
should not be read by the \ arty nominally addressed, 
we cannot think it is JionorMe or sjentlemanly. Is that 
such a * 'thrust" as a just man would be likely to make? 
Under other circumstances we do not believe Mr. 
Brown could think so himself, as he is undoubtedly a 
gentleman. We must, then, attribute his course in 
this matter, to his creed, or religion, and not to his 
own inherent sense of right. It is another item in the 
long score against Christianity. 

We have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. 
Brown, but from the admiration he has for the char- 
acter of Jesus, we judge the organ of veneration is 
vrell developed in his cranium^ we venture the 
opinion that the center part of his head is somewhat 
elevated. JesuS is his model of excellence and .true 



8 REPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

woitli, and his veneration impels him to worship and 
adore that ideal. Our head is rather level on the top, 
and it is not easy for us to venerate and worship any 
mythical, doubtful character. 

Nothing in the world is more fully proved, than 
that human beings can easily be made to believe in 
imaginary personages, and that, by constantly hear- 
ing the good qualities of any iudividaal who has lived 
^continually lauded and be-praised, that an undue de- 
gree of admiration and reverence is excited. 

What can be more real to an imaginative child, than 
the absolute existence of St. Nicholas or '^Santa Clans'* 
— the patron saint for juveniles during the Christmas 
holidays? A little girl, who, on Christmas morning, 
finds a beautiful, doll or a set of toy-dishes in her 
stocking, believes, just as firmly, in the existence 
and goodness and benignity of Santa Claus, and 
would be as indignant to hear his personality or good 
character questioned, as Mr. B:o vn does in reference 
to his demi-god, Jesus. Has not the little girl occu- 
lar demonstration that Santa Claus exists, and thinks 
of her and loves her? Has Mr. Brown anything 
more? Has he as much? 

Unfortunately for Jesus and his worshipers, there 
is a great want of authenticity, in the first place, as to 
his existence. We have simply the statements of 
wha4; purports to be biographies of him, written by 
four individuals of whom we know nothing and can 
know nothing, and which is entirely unconfirmed by 
any cotemporaneous history. It does appear that 
these stories were not known to be in existence for 
over one hundred years after Jesus is said to have 
lived, and even according to the claims of Christian 



BEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. » 

writers, the gospels were not Vv ritten till tliirty, and 
some of them sixty years after Jesus died. 

When the great difficulty which always exists m 
obtaining the real facts in all occurrences and items 
of history is remembered; when it is borne in mind 
that right here among ourselves, where the facilities 
for writing, printing and rapidly disseminating intel- 
ligence are a thousand times greater than eighteen 
hundred years ago; when wc know it is a fact that 
not a strictly truthful report was ever written of a 
single battle that occurred in our recent war ; when 
it is a truth that, in the compiling of the great ''Ameri- 
can Cyclopoedia," now being revised and re-publish- 
ed by the Appletous, upon which there are engaged 
such an able corps of editors and revisers, who assi- 
duously and constantly labor to keep out all errors ; 
when, despite all the caution and watchfulness, the 
most glaring mistakes have crept in, for instance, 
with regard to our Croton water works, the capacity 
of the various reservoirs, and the amount of water 
discharged from each, as well as other statistics in 
reference to Croton, which would seem cuuld bo 
easily and correctly obtained; when, we say, these 
facts are borne in mind, as well as the truth that the 
early fathers and founders of Christianity were noto- 
rious for their inventions and pious frauds, can we,, 
with any degree of certainty, take the statements of 
unknown persons, who are supposed to have lived 
nearly two thousand years ago, especially when they 
relate many things that are impossible and could 
never have occurred ? 

If Jesus was begotten by a ghost — if he had no 
father, except an invisible, impalpable, imponderous 
phantom, what earthly chance had 3Iatthew or Luke 



10 llEPLV TO EKASTUS F. BROWN. 

to know anytliiag about it? They make no claim of 
writing by inspiration, and if they did, could we 
believe tliem implicitl}'' ? Ii any one or two 
writers, or reporters, or priests, should now write a 
statement that a young, obscure ^irl had become a 
mother without one of the opposite sex having 
intercourse with her, would the world believe such 
a story? Ought it to believe it? Were story-tellers in 
oldeu time any more reliable than now? Were not 
fable, fiction and error more blended with what they 
meant for kistoi'i/ tha^n in the present age of the world? 
When in recitals of the present time we find we are 
compelled to take them with many grains of allow- 
ance, is it not quite as necessary to use caution in this 
direction with the uncertain stories of oldeft time? 
Is there any virtue in belief without proof? Is not 
the little girl who believes" in Santa Claus upon the 
strength of what she is told; equally as meritorious as 
Mr. Brown who believes in the rem.arkable concep- 
tion, the remarkable life, the remarkable death, and 
the remarkable resurrecj:ion and ascension of Jesus, 
simply because four unknown and unreliable persons 
agreed indifterently in saying so ? 

Matthew states that at the crucifixion the sun ceased 
to give light for several hours, that terrible earth- 
quakes occurred which opened the graves, and that 
those who were dead and buried came forth out of 
their graves and moved again with their former com- 
panions; is it not a little singular that neither Mark, 
Luke, nor John, nor Peter, Paul, nor Jude, nor Cel- 
sus, Josephus, nor Pliny knew anying and said noth- 
ing about it? If such an occurrence should fake place 
now, can it be supposed one single individual would 
be all who would take any notice of it ? Is any sen* 



REPLY TO ERASTUJS F. BROWN. 11 

sible person under any obligation to believe a writer 
when he states such great improbabilities, especially 
when he can be convicted of a score of mis-state- 
ments in other lesser matters ? Is there any virtue ir 
believing a falsehood at any time ? 

We do not say that Jesus never lived, but we do 
say there is no proof that he did. When we consider 
that what are called the ** four gospels " might very 
easily have been written by Eusebius or some of the 
other early fathers, priests or monks who were anx- 
ious to transplant the older pagan mythologies of the 
East into Judea and to re-localize the antique notions of 
India, Persia and Egypt, and when it is known to be 
a fact that almost every incident narrated in the life 
of Jesus had its prototype more than five hundred 
years earlier, in Christna, Buddha, Prometheus and 
many others, it is more easy for a plain, matter-of-fact 
man, who is not biased by early education, to think 
the whole story a borrowed one, rather than that the 
same events of half a millennium before should take 
place over again. Can we justly ascribe to Jesus, 
priority and originality for sentiments and doctrines 
which were positively known to have been taught 
hundreds of years earlier by the Essenes of Alexan- 
dria, and other localities? 

But admitting that Jesus did live, and there were 
doubtless many by the name, the same as there are at this 
day in Spain and Mexico, and as for two thousand years 
there have been Jameses and Joshuas, he was only a 
man who was begotten and born like other human be- 
ings, who lived and died like them, and after he was 
dead did not arise again and go sailing up bodily in 
the air where it is cold enough to freeze a man through 
and through in five minutes. II is praises, his wonders 



12 KEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

and his super-humanity have been so long sung and 
reiterated that thousands of people like Mr. Brown 
have absolutely got to believe that such a remarkable 
person once lived on the earth, and that he was God 
and made the Universe. 

There is no lack of instances where human beings 
of only ordinary traits of character, have had great 
honors thrust upon them, and especially after death 
have been deified and have been elevated to a niche 
of great eminence in the temple of adulation. In 
olden times it was very common, and even in the last 
century there has been plenty of it. How Napoleon 
Bonaparte has been revered and magnified in all his 
excellent qualities far beyond the reality, constituting 
him a hero, a wonder and almost a demi-god, while 
his enemies saw little in him to admire. How our 
own Washington, by being extolled, be-praised, and 
always spoken of as a perfect, faultless individual, is 
now revered by millions far beyond his real merits. 
One of the tendencies of the human mind, especially 
the ignorant and superstitious portion, is to ** hero- 
worship. " This, however, will gradually pass away, 
as intelligence and correct thinking gain sway in the 
world. 

If Jesus did live, and if he said every word that is 
attributed to him, why should he be credited with 
great power and wisdom, and with divinity itself, 
when he uttered no better, no wiser, no more God- 
like sayings, than Zoroaster, Buddha, Christna, Con- 
fucius, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and many others 
who lived hundreds of years before him ? Is there a 
virtue in selecting one individual who has lived in 
the past, and in according: to him all the wisdom, all 
the excellence and all the adorable characteristics that 



REPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 13 

belong equally as much, to say the least, to numerous 
other individuals ? Is it lustice or equity to rob one 
individual or many individuals, of the honor and 
credit to which they are fairly entitled, and to bestow 
it upon another no more worthy than themselves ? 

Our friend quotes Theodore Parker. It is rather a 
new thing for Christians to quote him to sustain their 
institution. They neither recognized him as a Chris- 
tian while he lived, nor had scarcely a kind word to 
say of him when he died. To them he was an Infi- 
del almost equal to Paine or Voltaire. Had. we room, 
we think we could quote many of Mr. Parker's say- 
ings which Mr. Brown -would hardly endorse. Theo- 
dore Parker was a great man, and was much farther 
advanced in mental freedom and boldness than the 
great majority of those around him; but he, too, like 
Mr. Brown, had an excessive amount of veneration, 
and he fancied he saw in the character of Jesus a 
great deal to love and admire. 

If Parker did say, on a certain occasion, when he 
had a special point to make, that '* the Christianity of 
Christ is the highest and most perfect* ideal ever pre- 
sented to the longing eyes of man," it was an extrav- 
agant expression, unfounded in truth. We would 
like to have Mr. Brown, or any other individual, show 
wherein the morals or inculcations of Jesus were any 
higher or purer than those taught and believed by 
the persons just named, none of whom claimed to be 
God. It is just as easy for the admirers and wor- 
shipers of Jesus to accord undue reverence to him, as 
it is for the worshipers of Buddha, Christna or Ma- 
homet to do the same by them. Probably no Chris- 
tian devotee can exceed the high degree of adoration 
which the several followers of these great leaders feel 



14 KEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWN. 

towards their beau-ideals. We who are without the 
circle can see that all are equally mistaken, and that 
virtue attaches to one no more than another for believ- 
ing what is untrue. 

If Christianity possesses all the excellence and vir- 
tue the world has ever known, is it not singular that 
it has produced more intolerance, more persecutioji, 
more bloodshed and more death, than any and ail 
other religions the world has ever known ? That 
this has been the case, and thaf the history of Chris- 
tianity has been written in blood, can be easily 
shown. * 

Lord Bacon was truly a wise and a great man, and 
we will be glad if Christians ever become willing to 
accept all the positions he arrived at. ; but when he 
said, '*a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to 
Atheism, but depth of philosophy bringeth men's 
minds about to religion," it only proves that even great 
minds can err. How is it to-day ? Tne greatest 
minds of the age, the ripest scholars, the soundest 
thinkers, and the most learned scientists, are those 
who have the least faith in theology, revealed relig- 
ion and a personal God. In this category are enroll- 
ed Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Tyndall, Faraday, 
Proctor, Helmholtz, Buchner, Schmidt, Draper, Fiske, 
and numerous others of less distinction ; while in the 
opposite column are found Moody and Sankey, Mrs. 
Grundy, Mrs. Partington, Erastus F. Brown, and 
unfortunately, too many more. 

If it is a virtue for Mr. Brown to believe in hi& 
myth, it is equally a virtue for the little girl who 
hangs up her stocking, to believe in her myth, Santa 
Claus. And it is not strange, that, when she was 
told by her mother, that she was now getting large 



BEPLY TO ERASTUS F. BROWK, 15 

enough to lay aside her dolls and playthings, and be 
a woman; that there was no such person as Santa 
Claus, that, when her cherished ideals were thus so 
cruelly destroyed, she should reply in this wise : " Now 
Ma! If you have been telling me a story all this time, 
about Santa Claus, how do I know but you have been 
telling me a story about Jesus, too? If there is no 
Santa Claus, I don't believe there is any Jesus Christ 
either ; there is as much proof of one as the other." 
And the little child was about right. If, in the opin- 
ion of her mother, it was time for her to lay aside 
childishness and error, and not believe longer in 
myths and fallacies, is it not also time for Mr. Brown 
and thousands of others to do the same, and embrace 
the universal truths which exist in nature and reason, 
and which depend neither upon Moses, Buddha, Zo- 
roaster, Confucius, Christna, Plato, Aristotle, Christ, 
Mahomet, Luther, nor Joseph Smith, but which exist 
inherently and eternally in the boundless Universe. 
May he, and numerous others, early come to see the 
truth as it is clearly brought to light by science and rea- 
son, which cause myths, superstition, and fables to 
step to the rear and to return to the shades of oblivion. 



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[Truth Seeker Tracts. No. 77.] 



The Fear of Death. 



BY D. M. BENNETT. 



Among the unfortunate legacies which the Chris- 
tian religion has bequeathed to mankind is the fear of 
death and a perpetual dread that the condition of 
existence after this life is one of unhappiness and 
ceaseless torment. Among all the religions of the 
world, in all lands, and in all systems of faith, none 
have inculcated with such fears and apprehensions 
of death and what is to succeed it, as Christianity has 
done and is still doing. The priests — the founders and 
promulgators of Christianity — have so persistently 
held up to the credulous gaze of the masses, a picture 
of a cruel and revengeful God, who, not content with 
the afflictions, adversities and trials which make up 
much of the experience of his creatures in this life, 
has devised that their existence shall not terminate 
with death, but that they shall live eternally, and the 
far greater portion be doomed to endless torture and 
the most terrible sufierings of which the mind is capa- 



2 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

ble of conceiving. They have painted the lurid 
flames of hell, the horrid demons which preside there, 
and the utter wretchedness of the damned in such 
vivid colors, that the ignorant multitudes have accept- 
ed it all as truth, and it is not strange that, for many 
hundreds of years, God has been looked upon as 
a most cruel and merciless tyrant who created a devil 
or devils to lead his children astray, and then to tor- 
ture them through the endless ages of eternity for the 
same. It is not stranaje that, believing this, death has 
been so dreaded, and feared, as the greatest enemy of 
the race. 

The vindictive character which has been attributed 
to Deity, the malicious disposition assigned to his 
important agent, the Devil, the forebodings of a ter- 
rible day of judgment, when all who ever lived upon 
the earth are to be gathered together and judged, the 
principal portion to be hopelessly doomed to the 
agonies of a fearful, never-ending hell, have been 
accepted by millions of human beings as truths, and 
have caused more unhappiness to the race than all 
other creeds in the world. Death ha"S been made 
replete with terror and the future existence with 
unutterable fear and apprehension. Nothing has so 
embittered life ; nothing has so detracted from the 
comparative happiness human beings might have 
enjoyed as these abhorrent doctrines have done. It 
is impossible to compute the fear, the terror and the 
dread that the credulous and confiding have been 
made to suffer from this source. Doubts and most 
harrowing fears have tortured the minds of unnum- 
bered millions of our race. Their own future condi- 
tion has not only been a matter of the most painful 
anxiety to them, but the welfare of loved friends and 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 6 

companions, husbands and wives, brothers and sis- 
ters, parents and children has been of the most intense 
interest, with the most distressing misgivings. Yes, 
these dreadful fears and forebodings have embittered 
the happiness and destroyed the comfort of immense 
numbers of human beings! Could the mental agony 
be computed which the belief in a vindictive God, a 
cruel Devil and a burning hell had produced where 
the Christian religion has prevailed, it would be 
enough to appall the stoutest hearts and awaken the 
strongest condemnation against such a monstrous 
creed. 

Not only have these doctrines operated to destroy 
the peace of mind of individuals, but the belief in a 
vindictive, revengeful God — who has been the source 
of the most relentless and cruel persecutions, which 
man has been made to suffer— tlie belief in a merci- 
less God has made cruel and blood-thirsty worship- 
ers. It has overthrown mental liberty, individual right 
and personal safety. It has caused human blood to 
flow in rivers, and been the pretext for the taking of 
human life in numbers variously estimated at from 
seventy-five millions to one hundred and fifty millions 
of the race. The record is the most fearful of any por- 
tions of man's history. Most truly did Robert G. 
Ingersoll, in one of his bursts of eloquence, exclaim r 
*' There can be little liberty on earth while men wor- 
ship a tyrant in heaven," and with equal truth may i% 
be said, tJiere can be little happiness for the human race 
who believe in a creative God^ who consigns his creatures 
to the torments of a never ending heU. 

How many thousands, and millions, have passed 
through life in a perfect dread of the terrible doom 
they feared awaited them at death I How they have 



4 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

shuddered and trembled at the very thought of pass- 
ing from this world ! In their waking and sleeping* 
hours it has been a constant nightmare to them. 
How many parents have feared lest when the vale is 
passed that their beloved children will be forever sep- 
arated from themselves — one or two, possibly, being 
admitted within the gates of the beautiful city, while 
the larger portion are cast down into the horrid, sul- 
phurous gulf. How many husbands and wives, rela- 
tions and friends, acquaintances and strangers h&ve 
been thus racked by fears, tortured by forebodings, 
and haunted with misgivings in contemplating the 
probable fearful destiny which awaited them! How 
many simple, honest-hearted people have passed 
wretched lives by this constant fear of death and eter- 
nity I Whether they have secured a passport that 
will take them safely into the regions of happiness, or 
whether their doom is down in the prisons of the 
damned, is the one ever-recurring question which 
they are unable to solve and which is such a constant 
source of apprehension and mental agony. 

If the reader will pardon us for a few moments we 
will make a few extracts from the sermons of Chris- 
tian Clergymen and Christian writers, touching the 
subject of hell, that it may be better understood 
whence come the terrors and harrowing fears to which 
we have alluded. 

In Baxter's ** Saint's Rest," he thus rapturously ad- 
dresses himself to sinners: 

"Your torment shall be universal. . , . The soul 
and the body shall each have its torments. The guilt of 
their sins will be to damned souls like tinder to gunpow- 
der, to make the flames of hell take hold of them with 
fury. , . . The eyes shall be tortured with sights of 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 5 

horror, and hosts of devils and damned souls. The 
ears shall be tortured with the howlings and curses of 
their companions in torments. Their smell shall bo tor- 
tured with the fumes of brimstone, and the liquid mass 
of eternal fire shall prey upon every part. ... No 
drop of water shall be allowed to cool their tongrues; no 
moment of respite permitted to relieve their agonies." 

The saintly Bunyan gives this delectable picture : 

"All the devils in hell will be with thee howling and 
roaring, screeching and yellimg in such a hideous man- 
ner, that thou wilt be at thy wit's end, and be ready to run 
stark mad again from anguish and torment. . . . Here 
thou must lie and fry, and scorch, and broil, and burn 
for evermore." 

The cherished divine, Jonathan Edwards, among a 
vast amount he uttered upon this favorite topic of 
hell, said: 

" The saints in glory will be far more sensible how 
dreadful the wrath of God is, and will better understand 
how terrible the sufferings of the damned are, yet this 
will be no occasion of grief to them, but rejoicing. They 
will not be sorry for the damned ; it will cause no uneasi- 
ness or dissatisfaction to them, but on the contrary, when 
they see this sight, it will occasion rejoicing, and excite 
them to joyful praises." 

The Eev. Mr. Benson, a prominent Methodist com- 
mentator of England, uses this language : 

" Infinite justice arrests their guilty souls and confines 
them in the dark prisons of hell, till they have satisfied 
all the demands by their personal sufl'erings. which, alas ! 
they never can do. . . . God is present in hell in his 
infinite justice and almighty wrath as an unquenchable 
sea of liquid fire, where the wicked must drink in ever- 
lasting torture. His fiery indignation kindles and his 
incensed furv feeds the fiame of their torment, while his 
powerful presence and operation maintain their being 
and renders all their powers most acutely sensible, thus 



6 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

setting the keenest edge upon their pain, and making it 
outmost intolerably deep. He will exert all his divine at- 
tributes to make them as wretched as the capacity of their 
natures wilJ admit. . . . Number the stars in the firm- 
ament, the drops of rain, the sands on the sea shore, and 
when thou hast finished the calculation, sit down and 
number all the ages of woe. Let every star, every drop 
every grain of sand, represent one million of tormentiny 
ages ; and know that as many more millions still remain 
behind, and yet as many more behind them, and so on 
without end." 

The Rev. Mr. Ambrose, in a sermon on Dooms-day, 
drew this picture : 

" When the damned have drunken down whole draughts 
of brimstone one day. they must do the same another 
day. The eye shall be tormented with the sight of devils ; 
the ears with the hideous yellings and outcries of the 
damned in flames ; the nostrils shall be smothered, as it 
were, with brimstone ; the tongue, the hand, the foot and 
every pan shall fry in flames" 

The Rev. Mr. Emmons, a sound orthodox, in his 
"Volume of Sermons," has this choice bit: 

•* The happiness of the elect in heaven will in part con- 
sist in watching the torments of the damned in hell. And 
among these it may be their own children, parents, hus- 
bands, wives, and friends on earth. One part of the busi- 
ness of the blest is to celebrate the doctrine of reproba- 
tion. While the decree of reprobation is eternally execu- 
ting on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will 
be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy 
who, instead of taking the part of those miserable objects* 
will Bij^g, ' Amen, hallelujah ; praise the Lord.' " 

An Evangelical poet, catching the fierj refrain, 
thus sweetly sings: 

Clattering of iron, and the clank of chains : 

The clang of lashing whips, shrill shrieks and grrans. 

Loud, ceaseless bowlings, cries and piercing moans. 



THE FEAK OF DEATH. 7 

Meanwhile, as if but light were all their pain, 
Legions of devils bound themselves in chains. 
Tormented and tormentors, o'er them shake. 
Thongs and forked iron in the burning lake, 
Belching eternal flames, and wreathed with spires 
Of curling serpents rouse the brimstone fires. 
With whips of fierv scorpions, scourge their slaves. 
And in their faces dash the livid waves." 

The Rev. Mr. Emmons again says : 

"When they (the saints) see how great the misery is 
from which God hath saved them, and how great a dife^r- 
ence he hath made between their state and the stat^ of 
others who were by nature, and perhaps by practice, no 
more sinful and ill-deserving than they, it will give the m 
more a sense of the wonderfulnoss of God's grace to them 
in making them so to differ. The sight of hell-tormetts 
will exalt the happiness of the saints forever." 

" Where saints and angels from their blest abode. 
Chanting iloud hallelujahs to thoir God, 
Look down on sinners in the realm of woe. 
And drit^Y fresh pleasures from the scenes below." 

The Rev. Thomas Bolton tkus descanls upon the 
bliss of the future life : 

" The godly wife shall applaud the justice of the judge 
in the condemnation of her ungodly hushand. The godly 
husband shall say, Amen ! to the damnation of her who 
lay in his bosom. The godly parent shall say hallelujah ! 
at the passing of the sentence upon the ungodly child. 
And the godly child, shall, from his heart, approve the 
damnation of his wicked parents, who begot him. and the 
mother who bore him." 

The Rev. Thomas Vincent, orthodox, thus touched 
the beautiful picture : 

" This will fill them (the saints) with astonishiag admir- 
ation and wondering joy. when they see some of their 
near relatives going to hell ; their fathers, their mothers, 
their children, their husbands, their wives, their human 
iriends and companions, while they themselves are 



8 THE PEAR OF DEATH. 

saved. . . . Those afifections they now have for reU - 
lives out of Christ, will cease, and they will not have the 
least trouble to see them sentenced to hell and thrust into 
tJie fiery furnace.'* 

In one of the former publications of the American 
Tract Society, is the following, from Kev. James 
Smith : 

" The fire of hell is such, that multitudes of tears will 
not quench it, and length of time will not burn it out. 
The wrath of God abideth on the rejector of Christ, 
(John, iii. 36.) eternity I eternity! Who can fathom it? 
Mariners have their plummets to measure the depths ot 
the sea ; but what line or plummet shall we have to meas- 
ure the depth of eternity? The breath of the Lord kin- 
dles the flame of the pit. (Isaiah, xxx. 33.) And where 
shall we find waters to quench those flames ? Oh eter- 
nity I If all the body of the earth and the sea were turn- 
ed to sand, and all the space up to the starry heaven 
were nothing but sand, and if a little bird should come 
once every thousand years and take away in her bill but 
a single grain from off that heap of sand, what number- 
less years and ages must be spent before the whole of that 
vast quantity would be carried away ; yet, even if at the 
end of that time the sinner might come out of hell, there 
might be some hope ; but that word Forever, breaks the 
heart. * The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for- 
ever and ever.' " 

Pollock's artistic touches to this lovely picture, are 
familiar to many : 

•' God in the grasp 
Of his almighty strength, took them upraised, 
And threw them down into the yawning pit 
Of bottomless perdition, ruined, damned. 
Fast bound in chains of darkness evermore, 
The second death and the undying worm. 
Opening their horrid jaws with hideous yell. 
Falling, received their everlasting prey. 
A groan returned, as down they sunk, and sunk. 
And ever sunk among the utter dark ; 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 9 

A groan returned— the righteous heard the groan, 

The groan of all the reprobate, when first 

They felt damnation sure, and heard hell close I " 

This delicate delineation of the loveliness of hell, 
is from the pen of the Rev. J. Furniss, C.S.R.R., and 
was published. by authority in England, and was part 
of the instruction designed for the young : 

•'We know how far it is to the middle of the earth ; it is 
just four thousand miles ; so if hell is in the middle of the 
earth, it is four thousand miles to the horrible, prison of 
hell. Down in this place is a terrific noise. Listen to the 
tremendous, the horrible uproar of millions and millions 
and millions of tormented creatures, mad with the fury 
of hell ! Oh ! the screams of fear, the groanings of horror, 
the yells of rage, the cries of pain, the shouts of agony, 
the shrieks of despair, from millions on millions ! There 
you hear them roaring like lions, hissing like serpents, 
howling like dogs and wailing like dragons. There you 
hear the gnashing of teeth, and the fearful blasphemies 
of the devils. Above all, you hear the roaring of the 
thunders of God's anger, which shakes hell to its founda- 
tions. But there is another sound. There is in hell a 
sound like that of many waters. It is as if all the rivers 
and oceans of the world were pouring themselves wfth a 
great splash down on the floor of hell. Is it, then, really 
the sound of waters ? It is. Are the rivers and oceans of 
the earth pouring themselves into hell? No. What is 
it, then ? It is the sound of oceans of tears running down 
from countless millions of eyes. They cry forever 
and ever. They cry because the sulphurous smoke tor- 
ments their eyes. They cry because they are in darkness. 
They cry because they have lost the beautiful heaven. 
They cry because the sharp fire burns them. . . . The 
roof is red hot; the walls are red hot; the floor is like a 
thick sheet of red hot iron. See, on the middle of that red 
hot iron floor stands a girl. She looks about sixteen 
years of age. She has neither shoes nor stockings on 
her feet. The door of this room has never been opened 
since she first set her feet on this red hot floor. Now she 
sees the door opening. She rushes forward. She has 



10 THE FEAR OF DEATH, 

gone down upon her knees upon the red hot floor. Lis 
ten, she speaks. She says: * I have been standing with my 
bare feet on this red-hot floor for years, pay and 
night my only standing place has been this red-hot floor. 
Sle^p never came on me for a moment, that I might for- 
get this horrible burning floor. Look at my burnt and 
bleeding feet. Let me go off this burning floor for one 
moment— only for a short moment Oh; that in this 
endless eternity of years, I might forget the pain only 
for one single moment.' The Devil answers her Ques- 
tion. * Do you ask for a moment— for one moment to for- 
get your pain ? No, not for one single moment during 
the never-ending eternity of years, shall you ever leave 
this red-hot floor.' 

The reader will doubtless excuse us from making 
any further quotatioAs of this description. These 
are but a fair sample of the abominable inculcations 
which beings in human shape, and called " divines, ' 
"men of God," "Holy men," etc., for centuries re-' 
galed their credulous hearers and required them to 
believe. Is it strange that those who can believe 
such horrible drivel as this should entertain a dread 
of the future life and that their happiness in this life 
was embittered in contemplating existence in the 
next? 

Fortunately this abhorrent belief in an eternity of 
agony for the far greater portion of the human race 
is not entertained over the entire world. Christian- 
ity is the only religion of the hundreds that make up 
the total of human creeds that teaches a hell of end- 
less torture. The Mohammedans have a modified 
hell, but it is not endless. Brahmanism recognizes 
degrees of future unhappiness, but the extremest of 
their views in this direction bears no comparison with 
the terrors of the Christian hell. The same may be 
said of the theology of the Egyptians, Grecians, and 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 11 

Romans. They had far less of revengeful gods and 
torturing hells and devils. Judaism was confined to 
this life and did not teach a future state of punish- 
ment. It was reserved for Christianity to inculcate 
this most abhorrent belief, audit has been the power- 
ful engine of priests, inquisitors and persecutors for 
fifteen hundred years; enough, surely, to cause it to 
be heartily execrated by every humane and sympa- 
thetic man. What avails it if five or ten per cent of 
the human family are in Abraham's bosom or are other- 
wise wafted to the plains of Paradise, there to bow 
eternally before the throne on which sits the king of 
vengeance and punishment, if all the balance are to be 
cast into a seething, sulphurous, fiery pit from which, 
according to the divines above quoted, there is no 
possible escape, and where the terrible torture cannot 
be ended by death. 

From all these horrors, the scientist, the Rational- 
ist the Liberalist and the Spiritualist, are freed. 
They look upon death as a simple and necessary con- 
dition of Nature, which can be contemplated without 
fear or terror. They see that death is as essential as 
life ; that composition and decomposition, organiza- 
tion and disorganization are the eternal law which 
rules throughout all Nature. One is as necessary as 
the other ; that there cannot be life without death ; 
and that one organization is made up of the atomic 
constituents of others which preceded it. The mate- 
rial of which we are composed has entered into hu- 
man and animal bodies thousands upon thousands of 
times. Life is the result of organization. The tritu- 
ration of the primitive rocks composed the soil from 
which, with water and the sun's warmth, vegetable life 
in the form of plants, grains and fruits are produced. 



12 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

In these are garnered the sun's rays in the farm of 
latent heat and the elements which, by being eaten, 
digested and assimilated, produce animal and human 
life. When the atoms or molecules composing living 
bodies have performed their service, and when the 
organizations die and decompose, they return again to 
their original conditions or unite in forming new 
compounds, and thus the eternal rotation is kept up; 
not a particle of matter passing out of existence, nor 
being lessened or inc: eased. 

Truly has the earth we tread been called a vast cem- 
etery ; the rocks and stones may be regarded as mon- 
uments and tomb-stones, upon which are engraved 
the history of millions and trillions who have preced- 
ed us in existence since the earth was peopled. 

A careful calculation has been made and an estimate 
arrived at, that upon this globe since man was evolved 
from lower orders of life, have been 36,657,843,- 
273,075.000 persons. This vast number is more 
than the mind can comprehend ; but when divided 
by 3,095,000— the number of square leagues on the 
globe—leave 11,320,688,732 square miles of land, 
which being divided as before, give 1,314,622,076 
persons to each square mile. If we reduce these 
miles to square rods the number will be, 1,853,174,- 
600.000, which divided in like manner, will give, 
1,283 inhabitants to each square rod, and these being 
reduced to feet will give about five persons to each 
square foot of earth. This, undoubtedly, is only an 
approximate estimate; and as some portions of the 
earth have been more densely populated than others, 
the number of persons to the square rod or square 
foot must have been much greater in some parts of 
the globe than this estimate. If it is true that 1,283 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 18 

persons is the number of human beings who have 
lived and died on each square rod— averaged — it is 
not at aH improbable that on many parts of the earth 
5,000 persons have lived and died upon a single square 
rod. Probably there is but little matter on the sur- 
face of the earth but what has at some time helped to 
constitute human organizations, and portions of the 
gasses and fluids have thousands upon thousands of 
limes assisted in making sentient human beings. 
Life and death have thus through the ages closely 
followed each other — each important in the great 
economy of Nature. 

Death, as we have seen, is essential to life. Mas- 
sacre, even, is incessant; flowers, animals, and men, 
are dying every moment; the earth is a vast slaugh- 
ter-house and the ocean is reddened w^ith blood. 
One form of life is constantly being built up from 
other forms; small fishes are converted into larger 
ones ; plants are being transformed into animals and 
animals into men. When the more death takes place, 
the more life, in some form, is the result. In the 
great law of compensation which abounds in the en- 
tire economy of Nature there is absolutely no waste 
or loss of life-force. Death is essential to life, 
and equally forms a part of the laws of the Uni- 
verse. 

Death, then, should uot be regarded as an enemy, 
but as a friend. As after the toils of a wearisome da}^ 
nothing is so sweet as a refreshing sleep, when con- 
sciousness for the time being takes its departure, so 
after the toils, troubles, and afflictions of life are ead- 
ed, how welcome the long, silent sleep that super- 
venes I How truthful and appropriate the couplet of 
Dr. Johnson: 



14 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

'* 'Tis a glorious boon to die ; 

This favor can't be prized too high." 

^ The epitaph placed by A. J. Davis upon the tomb- 
stone of his father beautifully expresses his view ol 
the silent messenger. ** Death is but a kind and wel- 
come servant who unlocks with noiseless hand, life's 
fiower-encircled door to show us those we love. ** 

Life, of course, is sweet to the whole human race, 
save to those bowed down in suffering and sorrow of 
a mental or physical nature, but when its busy scenes 
are enacted, when efforts and struggles are over, when 
ambition is satisfied, when health and strength have 
departed, when the hopes and fears have been real- 
ized or blasted, how sweet the long, quiet sleep 
which knows no waking! If eight hours' repose 
and forgetfulness are welcome to the tired frame, 
why should a long continued sleep be looked 
upon with terror and misgiving? Death, in itself, is 
not painful; disease or injury may induce conditions 
that cause acute suffering, but these are more unnatu- 
ral than otherwise. As a rule, death is much like the 
burning out of a taper or the ebbing of a gentle stream, 
without pain, without suffering. The struggles ac- 
companying death which often appear as most pain- 
ful, are only apparent. The senses have become so 
benumbed or paralyzed that acute feeling is absent. 
*' The senses fail as life recedes." 

It is true, too, that we are dying every day, all 
through our lives. During every second of our ex- 
istence we are throwing off effete particles of matter 
which are dead, and are replacing them' with new 
molecules of life and vigor; thus life and death go 
hand in hand forever. 

It is superstition and the false teaching of theolo- 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 15 

gians, as we observed, that have clothed death with 
all the terror and dread with which is usually contem- 
plated. It is they who have filled the minds of the 
ignorant and credulous with the horrible pictures of 
gods and devils, gorgons and goblins. Without any 
warrant in Nature or reason has death been converted 
into the * * king of terrors, '' and made to be regarded 
as the greatest enemy of man. How can this class 
ever fully atone for the wrongs they have done the 
race ? 

Those who deprive their fellow beings of happi- 
ness are their greatest enemies. Men must learn to 
discard these false teachers, and look to the truths of 
Nature and the inculcations of reason, and then the 
fear of death will have mainly passed away. 

How absurd in these theologians to paint horrid 
pictures of a future life, making the imaginary gods 
and devils of equal cruelty and malice, protracting 
the torments instituted by them to a never-ending 
eternity, and making the same consequent upon our 
belief or unbelief in dogmas and claims that are 
abhorrent to our every sense and aspiration ; as if our 
belief was entirely under our control, and that we are 
capable of believing anything we choose to, and that 
our views are not controlled by the laws of evidence 
and conviction. A man cannot believe that a crow 
is white, though he is told to do so ; he cannot believe 
a stone is bread; that the sun is no more brilliant than a 
mountain of rocks ; or that one is three, and that 
three are one. How cruel, then, to consign him to 
an eternity of torture, because he cannot do what he 
cannot. To do this is as unreasonable as are the de- 
mands' of priestcraft, theology and superstition. 

Though in this state of existence we find that the 



16 THE PEAR OF DEATH. 

forces of Nature — which may be denominated the 
supreme power, or God — are not malicious, revenge- 
ful or cruel, thev do not torture the helpless and the 
erring without cause or object. The theologians would 
have us believe that this supreme power will follow 
us after death and consign us to indescribable torments 
which have no end. 

How greatly this class of men wrong and belie the 
ruling powers, or the Deity they claim to describe. 
If he is not merciless, vindictive and revengeful here, 
what warrant is there for saying he will be so there? 
If the forces of the Universe are adapted to the hap- 
piness of man in this stage of existence is there any 
good reason to suppose there will be a change of 
policy or results in the next, if there is one? Is not 
the Universe governed by eternal, unchangeable prin- 
ciples or laws? Is it not the same with Deity, what- 
ever he may be? Are there any just grounds for theo- 
logians to assume that Deity indulges in petty hatred 
and revenge, and that he will spend any portion of 
his time in arraigning fallible mortals for their short- 
comings, and in punishing them perpetually, merely 
because he has the power to do so, and without any. 
hope of reformation or improvement? 

This doctrine is the most monstrous defamation and 
slander upon the character of Deity that has ever 
been devised, and the injury it has done in the 
world in destroying the happiness of man and giving 
license or pretext for the infernal persecutions and 
bloodshed that for a thousands years, and more, were 
practiced in the world, are, as before remarked, im- 
possible to be computed. 

Yery few of these advocates for the tortures of hell 
will admit for a moment that there is the slightest 



THE PEAR OF DEATH. 17 

possibity for the damned souls who are doomed to its 
tortures ever by any means to make their escape, 
either by good conduct, repentance, prayer or refor- 
mation. Nothing can make a particle of difference. 
This ruling power, which they inconsistently call a 
Ood of love and mercy, is inexorable. He will not 
yield one iota in the severity of his punishment nor 
lessen one moment its continuance. It must last for 
limitless ages — yes, decillions of centuries — one ever- 
lasting continuation of the most severe agony for 
countless quintillions of wretched human beings who 
were brought into existence without any agency or 
choice of their own, and for simply acting out the 
natures with which they were endowed, but more 
especially, as we said, for not believing the code of 
theological ethics, or rather the "infernal tom- 
fooleries" which a privileged aristocracy who live 
and fatten by declaring these monstrosities — and all 
without object or hope of doing the slightest good 
by this eternal cruelty and punishment ! ! 

What a horrible picture this, for a loving God! 
What a monstrous libel upon the character of any 
being ! All the demons and devils which the brains 
of superstitious men have invented, could not begin 
to equal the monstrosity of such a God ! It is all false 
— false as hell itself. There is no such being; no such 
aimless, hopeless punishment ; there is no being who 
delights in burning and tormenting poor erring souls. 
It is the basest falsehood that the imagination of man 
has ever devised, and the world should hasten to rid 
itself of such a shocking belief. It would be far 
better to have no God than such a one. 

If a hell could be possible for a moment it would 
seem but just that the class of men who have invent- 



18 THE FEAR OP DEATH. 

ed and promulgated these falsehoods and damned the 
world with them for so many centuries, should for a 
limited period, be made to endure its severity in a 
mild form ; but it would be too terrible even for that 
class of great offenders. Where is there a being so 
unfeeling and vindictive as to remand one poor mor- 
tal to the torments of hell, whatever may have been 
his offense? 

We should not, perhaps, blame this class of theo- 
logians too severely for the monstrous theories they 
have so long proclaimed to their fellow beings ; for 
it has all been the result of ignorance and supersti- 
tion ; or in other words, a reflex of the darkness in 
which the world has so long been groping. We 
see too, that the doctrine of devils and hell has been 
remunerating to the priests. It has enabled them to 
secure and maintain a control over their fellows 
which nothing else could have given. The pictures 
they have drawn of a vindictive God, who consigns 
his creatures to eternal flames ; the infernal devils 
who execute his sentences, and the fiery pit where the 
whole is executed, has been a great source of gain to 
the clergy, and has given them a power over the 
minds of their fellow-beings that nothing else could 
have accomplished. They have caused men and women 
to believe that they could influence and direct God ; 
that he conferred with them and made known to them 
that which he wished the masses to believe and to do. 
These self-constituted agents and managers for God, 
have thus done a very successful business in this 
world of ours. They have caused the cringing mil- 
lions to look up to them, as having control of their 
destiny and as wielding such influence at the high court 
in the sky, that but a word or a nod from them was 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 1^ 

sufficient to send hapless mortals to heaven or hell. 
The exactions they have laid upon the toiling mil- 
lions as a recompense for thus transacting God's 
business, has been most onerous to bear, and the 
tithes and rates and salaries the poor laboring classes 
have been forced to pay to this sleek, fat-beliied^ 
sanctimonious, hypocritical, exacting class, have beea 
a heavy burden for many, many weary centuries. 

Darkness and ignorance has for a long time ruled 
the moral world, and a cloud of gloom and horror has 
hung over the minds of men, the dimensions of which 
it is. impossible to calculate. But thanks to the 
progress of education, civilization and science^ 
new light is breaking in. We are getting so we 
can discern truth from error. The vindictive gods, 
the cruel devils, the gorgons and goblins, are fast 
hastening back to the shades of oblivion, and soon the 
world will be cursed with their presence no more. 

Men and brethren, let us raise a glad shout of re- 
joicing that the reign of darkness is so nearly over. 
That reason and truth are steadily gaining the ascend- 
ancy over priestcraft, tyranny and lies. That a belief 
in hell and devils is fast passing from the minds of 
men, and that the genial, cheering rays dispensed by 
the sun of science and truth are spreading over the 
whole world. 

The reign of terror has been long and dark, but 
there is much time yet before us ; the opportunities 
for acquiring knowledge and real truth are better thaa 
ever before. We have only to improve the means 
within our reach, and discard the errors and absurdi- 
ties that in the past ruled the world as with "a rod of 
iron, and we have everything to hope for. We are 
making cheering progress. We are nearing the bright 



20 THE FEAR OF DEATH, 

goal of truth with rapid strides. In another century 
the world will have no use for revengeful gods, tor- 
turing devils, flaming hells, seas of burning brimstone 
and the hordes of officious, designing priests which 
have so long ruled the minds of men. These will all 
pass away, and the reign of truth, reason, and 
love of humanity, will be inaugurated and will glad- 
den the world. Instead of such a multitude of 
churches where dogmas and creeds are enjoined, we 
shall have halls and schools of science and philosophy. 
Instead of the 65,000 priests that are now scattered 
over our country, who live sumptuously and are clad 
in rich apparel, for promulgating absurdities, super- 
stitions and lies, they will gradually give place to 
teachers of truth who will learn us the nature and- 
beauty of the Universe, and will enlighten us in the 
fact that in all laudable efforts to promote the 
happiness of our fellow-beings, we increase and am- 
plify our own. This number of professed represen- 
tatives from the throne of heaven will then cease try- 
ing to make us believe that they have the private ear 
of the Ruler of the Universe, and that through them we 
have to learn his secret will and pleasure. They will 
no longer use efforts to make us believe that God gets 
angry with human beings for what they think, for 
what they say and what they do ; and that he stoops 
to inflict pain and torture for the offenses they are 
weak enough to commit. All men will then be able to 
comprehend, it is to be hoped, that whatever God is, 
that he cannot be a local, cicumscribed personage; 
that he is as extensive as the Universe, and that it con- 
tains him, for it contains all that exists. 

Henry Ward Beecher in a recent sermon made some 
very sensible remarks upon the subject of deity. 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 21 

Among other observations, lie said: *' It is the ques- 
tion back of all other questions — is there a God? And 
if there is, do we know anything about him? . 
There are many realms which have not been entered 
into which are necessary to a true understanding of 
the divine nature that science is showing us fast. 
Step by step, by astronomy, by geology, and still 
more lately by other nascent sciences, we have trans- 
formed in us the notions of the methods of creation, 
so that the intelligent, well-read man does not stand 
where all Christians stood a century ago. 
No man stands where he can fully understand the 
character and feelings of a superior order of beings, 
and certainly not such a one as God. .... 
Looking at the world at large, the Atheism and In- 
fidelity of to-day is the medicine of the world. It 
is not good to take, but it is necessary to be taken, 
for the impositions of men and the ingenuities of 
men to describe, and the accumulation of rites and 
ceremonies, and the misplacing of authority, and all 
the organism of Christianity and the churches, and 
the ministers, the doctrines and the wheels of the 
world are absolutely clogged up with things which 
men want to let go, and we shall not cleanse them 
but by some such great sweeping inundations. . . . 
If there is no God, it will be no harm to know it, and 
if there is a God, they are not going to extinguish 
him by turning any of their alembics or anything 
else over him. What we think of the sun, the sun 
don't care about. God is, or he is not, and either 
way it is better we should know it; therefore what- 
ever may come from the researches of thoughtful 
men, let it come. It may do some harm, but it will 
cleanse the world of ten thousand evils." 



22 THE FEAR OP DEATH. 

These are truly advanced views to be entertained 
and littered by an orthodox clergyman, and much is 
to be hoped for the future condition of public senti- 
ment, if such declarations can come from our pulpits. 
''What we think of the sun, the sun don't care 
about," is an impressive lesson. Of all the deities or 
symbols for gods that men have invented or adopted 
for worship, the sun is undoubtedly the most appro- 
priate. The sun-worshipers have been quite as sensi- 
ble as any who have existed. The sun rises every 
morning with beaming rays which are benignantly 
shed upon all parts of the world. Light and heat 
are produced by the effect of its beams upon our at- 
mosphere. The earth is warmed and fructified by it, 
and all forms of lite, whether vegetable or animal, 
are due to its influence. Without it, this earth would 
be a wandering ball, enveloped in the most intense 
cold — eternal death, perpetual winter, endless gloom 
— a dawnless night, without a scintilla of light, a 
particle of life, and but little motion; unless it 
strayed away into some other solar system and 
became warmed and enlightened by the rays of its 
sun. All can realize that we are greatly indebted to 
the sun, but it is still difficult to fully comprehend 
the magnitude of this indebtedness. The sum total 
of life that exists upon this planet is immense; the 
myriads of forms of life in the vegetable and animal 
kingdom on the surface of the earth, in the ocean, in 
the air, the millions of forms of life, seen and unseen, 
from the microscopic, infinitesimal monad whose 
brief life lasts but thirty minutes, to the elephant and 
the whale whose existence continues over a century, 
all, all derive their life, their vigor, their activity, 
their muscular strength, their sentient powers, aL 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 23 

their happiness and all their capacity to enjoy happi- 
ness, directly from the sun and its influence. If this 
sphere we inhabit has a God — a supreme power — it 
must be thft sun. What else can it be? From 
what source do we derive any of the benefits we en- 
joy, save from the genial influence of the sun, operat- 
ing upon the elements and properties which exist 
upon, and around this planet? 

What then is the sun? A vast body of matter in a 
state of fusion, throwing off immense quantities ot 
substance in the form of light and heat, and con- 
stantly being fed and compensated by an infinitude of 
meteors, aerolites and small bodies of matter eternally 
aggregating and floating in space. It is not a sentient 
power. It does not think nor reason, though it dis- 
penses those qualities and elements which constitute 
us sentient, thinking beings. How truly Beecher ex- 
claims: ** What we think of the sun, the sun don't 
care about." It is wholly out of our power to do 
aught to aid or injure him. If his rays are too direct 
and powerful in portions of the earth; if he scorches 
and burns us, we may hang up a blanket to prevent 
his rays striking a given point, or we may erect 
other similar means to make a shade, but what can 
we do to effect the sun, favorably or unfavorably? 
And what does it care for our oblations, our adora- 
tions, our actions or our thoughts? Absolutely noth- 
ing. Yain it is for us to prostrate ourselves on the 
earth before him; vain it is to tender incense and 
worship to his glorious appearance ; vain it is to call 
upon him for aid, or mercy or any special dispen- 
sation of goodness. We cannot make him hear. Our 
cries cannot reach him. We may bask in his rays; 
we may enjoy the genial influence which he con- 



24 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

stantly imparts ; we may be wise or unwise in improv- 
ing the opportunities that we enjoy; we may gather 
or scatter the blessings with which we are surround- 
ed; wemay be presumptuous enough to think we can 
guide the glorious orb ; we may vainly think to in- 
struct him as to his course, and as to the beneficence 
he ought to dispense here or there ; we may seek to 
do him good by our puny powers; we may think his 
rays at times are too burning, at other times may 
think he hides himself in obscurity; we may seek to 
hasten him on his journey, or to induce him to tarry 
but for an hour, but what does it all amount to ? 
and what cares the sun for aught we can say, do or 
think? Nothing. But he cares just as much as any 
Deity that exists. Whoever Deity is, whatever he is, 
and wherever he is, he is not offended at our thoughts, 
our words nor our actions. If there is a Deity, he 
must be infinite — as boundless as the Universe — he 
must fill immensity. If he fills immensity, there 
cannot be room for aught else ; and then what fills all 
space is God. We call it the Universe, and it seems 
a fitting name. God is only another name for the 
Universe, and as a superstitious idea of a limited 
person — a local being, is connected with the term, it 
seems a less appropriate name by which to designate 
the infinite — the supreme — the all, than the Universe. 
One truth must be admitted to be axiomatic, and 
that is, that every particle of matter, every force, 
every incentive to life and motion that are in the 
Universe, belong to it and are parts of it. There Is 
no matter, power or principle extraneous to it. The 
Universe is a unit and all the God there is, or can be, 
is the Universe. The Universe is not only infinite, 
but it is eternal — without beginning of existence or 



THE FEAR OF DEATH ^ 

end days. Not a grain of matter that helps to con- 
stitute it is creatable nor destructible. Not all the 
chemists and scientists in the world are able to add a 
grain to the weight of the earth, nor to abstract a 
grain from it. The component parts of the Universe 
are constantly evolving and changing, and may pas& 
through millions of forms ; but their existence cannot 
be destroyed. 

We dissent entirely from the theory that matter is 
in itself dead or inert, and cannot move or act until 
operated upon by a force extraneous to it. On the 
contrar^^, matter inherently possesses all the force, 
power and motion that exists, and every particle of 
matter possesses this power or force. Dead matter, 
or inertia, is an absurdity ; matter is ever living and 
the source of all life, power and motion. Force and 
motion are increased as the magnitude of bodies is 
increased, other conditions being the same. All 
bodies have motion ; nothing in the Universe stands 
still ; everywhere are motion, activity, life. Prof. 
Proctor assumes that every sun, every world, every 
planet, has motion in proportion to its size ; that the 
motion of the earth is seven miles per second, Jupi- 
ter forty miles per second, while the sun has three 
hundred and fifty miles per second ; thus, the larger 
the body of matter, the greater its motion, power and 
force. We must never lose sight of the great fact 
that all force and all motion pertain to matter, and 
have no existence disconnected with it. 

Whatever then, we repeat, the infinite is, whether 
we denominate it Universe, Cosmos, Universal Mat- 
ter, Protoplasm or God, we may safely conclude that 
it does not stop to trouble itself about the thoughts or 
actions of insects, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds^ 



26 THE FEAR OP DEATH. 

nor human beings. It is all a mistake, that it becomes 
angry at men for living and acting out their natures, 
and that it becomes vindictive and unforgiving, and 
that this anger and enmity is exhibited chiefly after 
death, and does not become satisfied through the end- 
less ages of eternity. It is the priests, as we have 
said, who have been the authors of this abominable 
doctrine. It is they who have planted and nurtured 
these harrowing fears. Though they admit God to be 
kind, beneficient and forbearing in this life, they take 
great pains to make us believe that when we have 
passed the portals of death he becomes changed 
towards us, and that though while here he is loving and 
slow to anger, he there becomes terribly relentless and 
cruel. There is not the slightest reason upon which 
to found an opinion that the Supreme Power changes 
in the least degree in his character and disposition to- 
wards the animated portions of the Universe. He is 
•the same in all states and stages of existence. If there 
is a future state .where humanity has a contmued ex- 
istence, the Infinite will be the same there as here 
— the same in the future state as in the present. 
He does not punish here and he will not punish there, 
IVe have often said, God is no more to be feared in 
passing from the present state of existence into the 
future state, than in passing from New York into the 
State of Pennsylvania. His character is the sam.€ in 
all states alike. He is not vindictive ; he does not 
punish in anger and without cessation here nor here- 
after. 

We said, the Materialist and the Spiritualist are 
agreed as to the fear of death and what succeeds it. 
The first »ecognizes the fact that human beings come 
into existence by the same natural process by which 



THE FEAK OF DEATH. 27 

all forms of life are propagated and continued. He 
sees that individul life arises from organization and 
believes it must discontinue when the organization 
terminates. He believes in no future state of individ- 
ual intellect and life. When we pass from this form 
of existence, our individuality ceases ; the particles 
of matter of which we are composed return to the 
condition from which they were evolved, and we go 
back to the state of unconsciousness we occupied 
previous to our individual existence. He sees nothing 
terrible in this. As he does not mourn because he 
had no individual existence before his birth, he does 
not mourn because he has none after his death. It 
must be admitted that this view is infinity better than 
the Christian belief in an eternity of suffering and 
unhappiness, without object or benefit. 

The Spiritualist believes that the human race, and 
perhaps all animated existences, have a dual life ; that 
this primitive or rudimental state is succeeded by a 
more protracted and more etkereal existence. That 
during our rudimental life we perfect or develop a 
finer and more subtle organization of matter in a 
superior form, and that this sublimated body con 
tinues to live, to think and act after the coarser body 
has passed through the change called death, and has 
ceased to exist. The second body or organization 
they believe to be just as real, just as material as the 
first form, but more refined and ethereal, bearing 
the same relation, perhaps, to the rudimental exist- 
ence that the perfume or the ottar of roses bears to 
the rough, thorny rose-bush. That in all forms of 
life there are both primary and ultimate conditions ; 
each being the result of organization ; each being 
alike sustained by nourishment and assimilation, and 



28 THE FEAR OF D^IATH. 

each being perfect in functional development. For 
this reason it is believed we continue to think and 
act as individuals, after we pass frora the rudimental 
condition. 

Upon the question of a future life — a continuation 
of individual organizations, the world is greatly di- 
vided. Powerful intellects have been arrayed on 
either side, and all available arguments, pro and con, 
have been used again and again. A preponderance 
of mankind has, doubtless, inclined to a belief in a 
future life, although they have not agreed as to the 
means by which it is obtained. Some have regarded 
it as a natural result of our earth-life — a corollary of 
our mundane existence. Others believe the future 
life or immortality, a special gift from God or his 
Son, and that it coines from believing a prescribed set 
of dogmas — faith in a certain creed. It cannot appear 
reasonable to a thinking mind, that a future exist- 
ence depends upon any set of opinions, nor that it is 
a partial favor granted to a portion, only, of human 
beings, and denied to the remainder. If it is a tnnith, it 
exists in keeping with the immutable laws of the 
Universe, and is general in its character ; the same 
with all nationalities, colors and creeds, and including, 
perhaps, the lower orders of animal life. 

After some years of doubt we have been led to give 
our adhesions to a belief in a continued existence. 
This belief has been induced by the proofs we have 
witnessed, the manifestations of intelligence uncon- 
nected with visible physical organizations, and which 
have been brought to our cognizance through the 
agency of what are called, spirit-phenomena. Recog- 
nizing the fact that much that has been palmed off as 
this class of phenomena has been fraudulent and un- 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 29 

?rorthy of attention, it cannot be successfully dcDied 
that under proper conditions certain phenomena do 
take place wkich cannot be relegated to the domain 
of deception. The cry of "fraud " will not suffice to 
meet the actual results that take place in the direction 
indicated. A force is made apparent, an intelli- 
gence is demonstrated, 'hat for want of a better the- 
ory, is attributed to invisible existences, possessing 
organs of thought and action similar to ourselves. 
When the laws of the Universe, which are still greatly 
unknown to us, are brought to our knowledge and 
comprehension, we may be able to assign other 
causes than spirit-existence for the phenomena that 
take place ; but until this time comes, the Spiritual- 
istic theory seems the more probable, and covers 
more of the facts than any other hypothesis that has 
been advanced. 

Knowing of no intelligence, save that which is tlie 
result of organization adapted to its production, and 
finding convincing proof of an intelligence coming 
from invisible sources, it is an easy step to arrive at 
the conclusion 'that there does exist, finer, ethereal, 
sublimated individualities possessing organs, parts and 
functions, though not obvious to Ov*' rudimental vis- 
ual organs. This step we perhaps have t^ken. It is 
eas}^ to comprehend that a large portion of matter in 
an deriform and attenuated state exists in a condition 
not appreciable by our organs of sight ; and scientists 
tell us that all the rocks, minerals, oxides and ftuids 
forming this earth, are susceptible of being trans- 
formed into gases, invisible to the human eye, an^ 
that in the long ago they once occupied that invisible, 
impalpable condition. 

In the multifarious forms and evolutions throus.li 



30 THE FEAR OF DEATH 

which matter has passed, worlds, systems and constel- 
lations have been formed ; and on our own globe we 
perceive that soils have been produced, and with the 
influence of the sun, vegetable, animal and sentient 
life are the product. These results are most won- 
derful, but they impart not to us the sum total of the 
capabilities of matter. Every day new facts are re- 
vealed to us, and year after year new revelations are 
made, that but a few years earlier would have been 
pronounced impossible. 

If three -fourths of a century ago a prediction had 
been made that in fifty years the oceans and every 
principal river of the earth would have been navi- 
gated by splendid floating palaces, driven by an un- 
kaown power at the rate of fifteen to twenty miles 
an hour, and that by the same force long trains of 
heavy carriages, carrying fifty tons of freight or one 
hundred human beings each, would be rapidly trans- 
ported across plains and valleys, through forests, over 
and through mountains, under and over rivers at the 
rate of thirt}^ miles an hour; would such a prediction 
have then gained credence ? Now we can believe it 
easily. 

If fifty years ago it had been said that within a few 
fears, by aid of the sun's rays and a tew chemicals, 
accurate pictures of persons, objects and landscapes 
could be almost instantaneously cast upon paper, 
metal and ivory, who would have believed it ? Now 
we admit it without a question. 

If forty years ago it had been asserted that in three 
decades the thoughts and intelligence of man could 
be conveyed three thousand miles in a second of time, 
and that the same could be sent thousands of miles 
from continent to continent under the ocean, would 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 81 

it have been believed ? Kow this is being done every 
hour. 

If a quarter of a century ago we had been assured 
that, by the aid of the spectroscope, the chemical con- 
stituency of the sun, the planets, comets, fixed stars 
and the distant nebulae could be determined, would 
we have readily believed it? Now we accept it as 
true. Thus we see one stage of development after 
another in the domain of matter is constantly being 
brought to our consciousness. If it proves to be a 
truth that we, as organized beings have a continued 
existence; that we perfect while in this stage a finer 
and less destructaWe organization, that lives, and acts, 
and thinks for thousands of years, it is perhaps no 
more strange nor wonderful that the various phenom- 
ena of life and material evolution which we al- 
ready partially comprehend. As we remarked, we 
kf]ow not yet but little of the capabilities and possi- 
bilities of matter, we know but little of the law 
of psycholo«jy, and when we know more, perhaps 
a continued existence after death will appear quite 
possible and reasonable. It is certainly desirable 
that our existence should be as pleasant 'and as long 
as possible. It is well calculated to exalt our views 
and estimates of the Universe if we find a continued 
existence after death is among its wonderful provis- 
ions and possibilities. As choice and wish, however, 
can have no part in determining the question, we have 
to look only to the palpable and actual facts that may 
be presented to our comprehension. 

Imbued with the conviction that matter with its 
inherent forces is all that is — that it does all that is 
done, we cannot agree with those who claim that 
matter is only the result of spirit— that spirit is the 



S'Z THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

substance, and matter the shadow. We dissent en- 
tirely from the philosophy which claims that spirit is 
everything, and matter nothing. On the other hand, 
matter is the summa summarum of all existences. 
Whatever is not matter is nothing. If spirit is any- 
thing, it is a form of matter ; matter is not a product 
of spirit, but spirit a product of matter and in a high 
form of evolution which matter is capable of attain- 
ing. If this is so ; if spirit existences are material 
organizations, it is not difficult to comprehend a 
continued individual life ; but not an immortal 
existence. By immortality we understand a never- 
ending existence. It is a logical conclusion that that 
which has no end could have had no beginning. It 
is an axiomatic truth, that what has a beginning must 
have an end. As it is very evident, that as individ- 
uals, we all had a beginning but a few decades ago, 
(despite the untenable theory of the incarnationists, 
who hold that we are eternal as individual entities 
and never had a beginning) the only logical deduc- 
tion that can be arrived at, is, that at some period of 
time our individual existence must terminate, when 
the elementary molecules of which we are composed 
must revert back to the great fountain of the Universe 
whence they came. How long this individual, con- 
scious existence may continue, we know not ; possi- 
bly thousands of years. If, however, in the wonderful 
provisions and capabilities of the Universe, individual 
immortality is among the possibilities, let us duly ap- 
preciate the future that awaits us. Of all this, how- 
ever, we shall know more, or know less, when, in the 
language of our Spiritualistic friends, we * ' leave the 
phj^sical plane" and ''cross the shining river." 
As much, however, of all this theory of *Vp future 



THE FEAR OF DEATH 83 

life is beyond the ken of our vision ; as much of it is 
mere speculation, let us not waste our time and ener- 
gies in a fruitless effort to look into the beyond. 
While we occupy this state of existence it is wise for 
us to give our whole attention to the duties, labors 
and objects of this life, and leave the imaginary con- 
ditions of a future life until we have finished with 
this, and are far more able to meet and discharge the 
duties of another. We find plenty here to employ 
all our talents, energies and abilities, and it is unwise 
in us to neglect them, and in preference, give our 
attention to that so far beyond our gra^ and compre- 
hension. Our services are needed here. All the 
efforts we are capable of accomplishing can be use- 
fully employed here, and cannot be intelligently di- 
rected to conditions in the world beyond our sight 
and knowledge. Let us, then, while here, live for this 
world only, securing and increasing our own happi- 
ness in every conceivable and legitimate way, and in 
adding to the happiness of those around us, to the 
extent of our ability. 

Happiness and usefulness should be the great objects 
of existence. These consist not in long-faced solem- 
nity, unnatural gravity, hypocritical piety, nor in keep- 
ing up a warfare on the harmless pleasures of life; 
neither are they derived from the pursuit of passion, 
vanity and frivolity. Cheerfulness and health are two 
great requisites to happiness and usefulness. These are 
courted and won by a judicious course, or are dissi- 
pated and repulsed by an opposite course. The 
object of our lives should be to make this world as 
beautiful, and ourselves and our fellows ashappy as is 
in our power. If we do this we need never have a fear 
of deatli, or of what is to come after it. Such a course 



34 THE FEAR OF DEATH, 

will make us happy here and will place us in a posi- 
tion to .enter into the joys of another existence, if 
there is one. 

At all events there is no cause why we should suffer 
our minds to harbor fears and terrors about the 
future, and the punishment and the sorrow which 
the reverend gentry would have us believe eternally 
exist there. Whether death terminates our existence 
or opens up to our vision a brighter and better life, 
let us dispel all fear of death ; all dismal misgivings, 
all superstitious dread, which is the inevitable neces- 
sity and counterpart of all that has life. 

" Do you ask for Heaven? Seek it here; and Hell 
is where you make it. " 

We will close with the beautiful, impressive words 
of Ingersoll : *' Eeason, observation and experience — 
the Holy Trinity of science, have taught us that hap- 
piness is the only good ; that the time to be happy is 
now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. 
This is enough for us. In this belief we are content 
to live and die. If, by any possibility, the existence 
of ,a power superior to, and independent of nature 
shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough 
to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect." 



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Truth Seeker Tracts. 



[REVISED LIST.] 

No. as. 

1. Discussion on Prayer, etc, D. M. Bennett and two 

Clergymen. 8 

2. Oration on the Gods. B. Gr. Iiiffersoll. 10 

3. Thomas Paine. R. Gr. Inif^rfoll. 5 

4. Arraingment of the Church, or Individuality. By 

R. G. Ingersoll. 6 

5. Heretics and Heresies, R. G. Ingersoll. 5 
. 6. Humboldt. R. G. Ingersoll. 5 

N>7. The Story of Creation. D. M. Bennett. 5 

v^ The Old Snake Story. " 2 

>9 The story of the Flood. '* 6 

V ^10 The Plagues of Egypt. *' 2 

>^ll Korah, Datham, and Abiram. D. M. Bennett 1 

412 Balaam and his Ass. D. M. Bennett. 2 

^la Arraignment of Priestcraft. D. M. Bennett 8 

14 Old Abe and Little Ike. John Syphers. 3 

15 Come to Dinner. ** 2 

16 Fog Horn Documents. '* 2 

17 The Devil Still Ahead. .. , 2 
. 18 Slipped up Again. '* 2 
y^l9. Joshua Stopping the Sun and Moon. D. M. Bennett 2 
•^20 Samson and his Exploits. D.M.Bennett 2 
♦21, The Great Wrestling Match. " 2 
.^22. Discussion with Elder Shelton. " 10 
-ii23. Reply to Elder Shelton's Fourth Letter. D. M. 

Bennett. 3 

\ 24. Christians at Work. Wm. McDonnell. 6 

^ 25. Discussion with Geo. Snode. D. M. Bennett 3 

< 26. Underwood's Prayer. i 

JG7. Honest Question and Honest Answers. Bennett ^ 

28. Alessandro di Cagliostro. Chas. Sotheran. lo 

29. Paine Hall Dedication Address. B. F. Underwood. 5 

30. Woman's Rights and Man's Wrongs. John Syphers. 2 
» 31. Gods and God-houses. John Syphers. 2 
-^32. The Gods of Superstition and the God of the Uni- 
verse. D. M. Bennett. 8 

33. What has Christianity Done? S. H. Preston. 2 

■ 34. Tribute to Thomas Paine. S. H. Preston. 2 

c^5. Moving the Ark. D. M. Bennett. 2 

a36. Bennett's Prayer to the Devil. 2 

37. A Short Sermon, No. 1. Rev. Theologicus, D.D, 2 

38. Christianity not a Moral System. X. Y. Z. 2 

39. The True Saint S.P.Putnam. 1 
\ 40. The Bible of Nature vs. The Bible of Men. Syphers. 2 
;;*'4i. Our Ecclesiastical Gentry. D. M. Bennett i 
m Elijah the Tishbite. D. M. Bennett 4^ 

43. Christianity a Borrowed System. D. M. Bennett. ^-^ 

\ 44. Design Argument Refuted, B. F. Underwood* 3 

*^46. Elisha the Prophet D. M. Bennett 2 

v46. Did Jesus Really Exist ? D. M. Bennett a 



47. Cruelty and Credulity of the Human Kace. Dr. 

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- 48. Freethou^ht in the West. G. L. Henderson. 5 

49. Sensible Conclusions. E. E, Guild. 6 

- 50. Jonah and the Big Fish D. M. Bennett. 3 

51. Sixteen Trufi Seeker Leaflets, No. 1 5 

52. Marples-Underwood Debate. B. F. Underwood. 3 
\ 53. Questions for Bible Worshipers. B. F. Underwood. 2 
^54. An Open Letter to Jesus Christ. D. M. Bennett. 5 

55. Bible God Disproved by Nature. W. E. Coleman. 8 

56. Bible Contradictions. 1 

57. Jesus Not a Perfect Character. B. F. Underwood. 2 

58. Prophecies. B. F. Underwood. 2 

59. Bible Prophecies Concerning Babylon. Underwood. 2 

60. Ezekiel's Prophecies Concerning Tyre. Underwood. 2 

61. History of the Devil. Isaac Paden. 5 

62. The Jews and their God. Isaac Paden. 10 

63. The Devil's Due-Bills. John Syphers. 3 
"64. The Ills we enidure— their Cause and Cure. Bennett. 5 

65. Short Sermon* No. 2. Rev. Theologicus, D.D. 2 

66. God Idea in History. Hugh Byron Brown. 5 

67. Sixteen Truth Seeker Leaflets, No. 2. 5 

68. Ruth's Idea of Heaven and Mine. Susan H. Wixon. 2 

69. Missionaries. Mrs. E. D. Slenker. 2 

70. Vicarious Atonement, Dr. J. S. Lyon. 3^ 

71. Paine's Anniversary. C. A. Codman. 3 
" 72. Shadrach. Meshaeh and Abed-nego. D. M. Bennett. 2 

73. Foundations. John Syphers. 3 

\^^. Daniel in the Lions' Den. D. M. Bennett. 2 

-^75 A.n Hour with the Devil. D. M. Bennett. lo 

Scientific Series. 

1. Hereditary Transmission. Prof. Louis Elsberg.M.D. 5 

2. Evolution; from the Homogeneous to the Hetero- 

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3. Darwinism. B. F. Underwood. 3 

4. Literature of the Insane. Frederic R. Marvin, M.D. 5 

5. Responsibility of Sex. Mrs. Sara B. Chase. M.D. 3 

6. Graduated Atmospheres. James McCarroU. 2 

7. Death. Frederic R. Marvin, M.D. 5 
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AND GONTIN TJING FO UB DA Y8. 

BETWEEN 

PROF. O. A. BURGESS, 

PBBS'T N. W. CHRISTIAN UNIVEESITT. INDIANAPOLIS. IND.. 

AND 

B. F. UNDERWOOD, 

OP BOSTON. MASS. 

REPORIED BY JOHN T, HAWKE. 

First PuoposiTiox.— The Christian Religion, as set forth 
ill the New Testament, is true in fact and of divine ori- 
/^in. Burgess in affirmative; Underwood in negative. 

Second Pboposition.— The Bible is erroneous in many 
of its teachings regarding science and morals, and is of 
human origin. Underwood in affirmative; Burgess in 
negative. 

Every person who likes to hear both sides of a ques- 
tioi*, and to be apprised of what can be said by each dis- 
putant, should avail themselves of the opportunity of 
procuring his valuable work. 

PRESS NOTICE: 

An Aylmer paper of July 9th. l«75, contained the folloAv- 
ing: "The advocate of Christianity, Pres't Buegess, of 
the Northwestern Univer-si.y, Indianapolis^is everthing 
he has been represented to be. An eloquent speaker, 
whose words escape from his mouth, clothed with a living 
earnestness which cannot fail to find a responsive echo 
in the heart of every Christian. 

** B. F. Underwood, of Boston, makes more impression 
on the thinkers by his facts, authorities and theories, and 
when those need more forcible expression, is not inferior 
to Burgess as an orator. The difference between him 
and Burgess in that respect, is. that the latter is almost 
at all times eloquent, and generally appealing to the sym- 
pathies of his audience ; whilst Mr. Underwood does dot 
rely on the momentary influence of language, but ad- 
vances idea after idea, fact after fact, theory after theory, 
with such startling rapidity, that only the most highly 
cultivated mind and the most profound thinker eangra^p 
them." 

12 mo. 180 pp. In paper 60 cts. ; cloth. $1. Postpaid. 
iJ. M. BENNETT. 3;)5 Bioa.iway. N. V. 



THE HEATHENS OF THE HEATH, 

BY WM. McDonnell. 

Author of " Exeter Hall." eto.. eUk 

This Work is rich in romantic and pathetic inoideats, 
It exhibits, with an oyerwhelming array of facts, the 

Terrible Atrocities 

committed by the Church. It shows that the purest mor« 
allty exists without the Bible^ and that many of the heath- 
en philosophers were " Lovers of Virtue." 

Shocking instancefe are given of the depravity of Chris- 
tian ministers, and of the prevailing immorality amoag 
Christian people. 

The folly of "Foreign Missions** In fully portrayed. 
Hypocrisy and bigotry are clearly exposed, and the road 
to virtue and happiness plainly marked out, 

A most pleasing Romance is woven into thtwork in 
which much chance is afforded for fine descriptions and 
beautiful sentiments, which the author well knows how 
to give utterance to. 

*'0n the whole it is the work of a master hand— a work 
of unaffected beauty and the deepest interest. 

'* One of the most valuable features of the work is that 
its positions are all proved. Every thinking, enquiring 
mind should peruse It" 

PRICE, in paper. -- $100, 

in cloth, ...... . • I W. 

Bent postpaid on receipt of price. 

D. M. BENNETT. Publisher. 
835 Broadway, N. Y. 



"EXETER HALL." 

BY WM. MoDONNELL. 

^ Author of ** The Heathens of the Heath," ©to. 

A beautiful, tender, delicate, pathetic and most convinc- 
ing composition. A beautiful exhibit of the many mis- 
chievous effects growing out of religious dogmas found- 
ed upon the inspiration and divine authority of the Bible. 
It strongly denies the divine character claimed for that 
work by its mistaken devotees, and shows up in vivid 
colors the practical effects of superstition and religious 
fanaticism. 

"Altogether it is the most searching book ever publish- 
ed in America since the "Age of Beason." 

Price, in paper, 60 cents; in cloth, 80 cents. Sent post- 
paid, by mail. Address D. M. BENNETT. 

335 Broadway, N. Y. 

Innocent Amusetnent for the Young, 

BLAKEMAN'S 

Two Hundred Poetical RiddleSi 



These Riddles embrace a large variety of subjects, and 
will be found very entertaining to children, as well as to 
those of larger growth. 

They will assist materially in affording amusement to 
social parties, as well as to the fire-side family circle. 
Price, 20 cents by mail. 

D. M. BENNETT. Publisher, 

335 Broadway, N. Y, 











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